THE  GIFT  OF 

MAY  TREAT  MORRISON 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

ALEXANDER  F  MORRISON 


Mandeville's  Voyages  and  Travels 
Kinglake's  Eothen 


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lAMOLS    AMJ    LM'^Li:.    MANUSCRIPT   AiNl) 
BOOK    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

A  series  of  lac-siniiles,  showing  the  development  of  manuscript  and 
book  illustrating  during  4cxx)  years. 


THE   WONDERS   OF   THE   WORLD. 

The  book  from  which  this  plate  is  taken  was  written  at  the  order  of  Jean  "  San 
Peur,"  Duke  of  Burgundy,  some  time  within  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  fifteenth 
centurj',  as  a  present  for  his  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Bern,  who  was  the  most  distinguished 
connoisseur  and  munificent  patron  of  art  of  his  age.  The  book,  which  required  the 
ser\'jces  of  celebrated  artists  for  many  months,  contains  the  travels  of  Marco  Polo, 
Mandeville,  and  others,  and  every  page  is  ornamented.  This  picture  is  the  first  illus- 
tration in  the  part  assigned  to  Mandeville,  and  represents  the  traveler  taking  leave  of 
the  King  previous  to  his  departure. 


Voyages  and  Travels 

By 

Sir  John   Mandeville 

Edited  by  Arthur  Layard 

With  a  Critical  and  Biographical  Introduction 
by  Jacques  W.  Redway 

Illustrated 


New  York 

D.  Appleton  and   Company 

1901 


CorVRIGHT,    l?ry8, 

By  D.  APPLETON   AND   COMPANY. 


Ho\ 


SIR   JOHN    MANDEVILLE 


TO  almost  every  one  sooner  or  later  comes  a  time  when  the 
chosen  idol  is  thrown  headlong  from  the  niche  of  honour, 
and  lies  hopelessly  shattered ;  for  even  though  Aber- 
glaube  may  never  have  invaded  the  sanctuary,  the  strokes  dealt 
by  the  Zeitgeist  are  none  the  less  destructive.  The  results 
of  iconoclasm  may  seem  unnecessarily  harsh,  but  the  process 
itself,  after  all,  is  an  evidence  of  intellectual  growth.  So,  too, 
the  fact  of  tearing  his  nerve-wrought  flesh  from  the  old  shell 
is  doubtless  a  painful  process  to  the  crab ;  yet  when  he  is 
iC  possessed  of  a  new  one,  he  is  conscious  that  his  former  gar- 
tt      ment  was  outgrown. 

*  These  thoughts  recur  as  I  recall  the  time  when  the  haps 

and  mishaps  of  Robinson  Crusoe,  my  erstwhile  idol,  grew 
dim  and  tarnished,  all  for  a  cause.  And  the  cause,  I  am  both 
■5  amused  and  ashamed  to  say,  —  the  marvelous  adventures  of 
5  a  certain  Sir  John  Mandeville,  Knight,  —  was  a  new  idol. 
%  With  each  chapter  reread  I  exalted  his  position  until  it  sur- 
^  mounted  the  highest  pinnacle.  Then  came  the  Zeitgeist  — 
"^  and  lo,  the  golden  image  was  a  shapeless  pile  of  rag  and 
■^  paper  tinsel.  Sir  John  the  Marvelous,  stripped  of  armor 
^       and  helmet,  was  only  a  spurious  nobody ;  even  his  much  be- 

2  spangled  garb  of  mendacity  would  not  hold  intact  his  skele- 
o  ton  of  borrowed  sticks  and  fagots.  So  much  for  the  imaginary 
\j2       character  of  the  doughty  traveler. 

3  It  is  in  the  imaginary  character,  however,  that  we  must 
look  for  the  real  entity  of  the  alleged  knight-errant ;  for  the 
process  of  analysis  presents  many  difficulties,  and  the  various 
biographical  sketches  of  the  character,  real  or  imaginary,  — 
perhaps  I  should  say,  real  and  imaginary,  —  omit  almost 
everything  tangible  about  the  man.  The  character  sketches, 
moreover,  are  remarkable  mainly  for  their  diversity.     Here 

A  iii 


iv  SIR  JOHN   MANDEVILLE 

are  two  :  one  from  a  mutilated  edition  of  Chambers'  "  Cyclo- 
pedia," —  much  advertised  for  its  educational  value  ;  the  other 
cited  anonymously  by  John  Cameron  Grant  in  his  pref- 
ace to  a  recent  edition  of  the  "Adventures."  From  the 
first :  — 

"  An  old  English  traveler  born  at  St.  Albans  about  the  year  1300. 
Prompted  by  curiosity  or  love  of  adventure,  he  left  his  native  coun- 
try about  1327,  visited  the  Holy  Land,  served  under  the  Sultan  of 
Egypt  and  the  great  Khan  of  Cathay  [China]  ;  and  after  33  years' 
wandering  through  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  returned  to  England 
where  he  wrote  an  account  of  his  travels  in  Latin,  French,  and 
English.  He  died  at  Liege,  Nov.  17,  1372.  Mandeville's  work  is 
not  of  great  value  for  historic  geography,  as  he  not  merely  states 
what  came  under  his  own  observation,  but  what  he  heard;  and  he 
was  credulous  enough  to  admit  what  are  now  regarded  as  the  most 
absurd  and  monstrous  fables.  .  .  .  Several  of  his  statements,  once 
regarded  as  improbable,  have  since  been  verified.  The  common 
notion  of  his  being  preeminently  a  lying  traveler,  is  therefore  in  all 
likelihood  not  well  founded  "  I 

The  second  opinion  forms  a  rather  strong  contrast :  — 

"  There  was  never  a  Sir  John  Mandeville  in  existence,  and  the 
renowned  book  of  travels  which  goes  by  his  name  was  a  compilation 
by  a  physician  of  Liege,  Jehan  de  Bourgogne  by  name.  .  .  .  Doc- 
tor John  of  Burgundy  was  a  smart  man,  and  understood  the  literary 
taste  of  his  time,  so  he  concealed  his  identity  under  the  pseudonym 
of  Sir  John  Mandeville,  Knight,  of  St.  Albans  in  England." 

Perhaps  the  first  quoted  sketch  may  be  commended  for  the 
absence  of  the  dogmatic  opinion  that  pervades  the  second ; 
but  the  ridiculousness  of  it  is  wofully  apparent  as  one  reads 
even  the  first  chapters  of  the  "  Adventures."  Nor  can  it  with 
certainty  be  affirmed  that  the  original  Sir  John  is  identical 
with  the  good  Burgundian  leech,  for  Jehan  de  Bourgogne 
had  troubles  of  his  own,  and  from  their  historic  recital  the 
connection  of  the  two  characters  seems  improbable,  if  not 
impossible.  There  certainly  was  the  tomb  of  a  knight  in  the 
abbey  of  the  Guilelmites  at  Liege,  and  the  name  of  the  knight 
is  said  to  have  been  Mandeville ;  but  it  is  equally  certain  that 
the  coat  of  arms  was  quite  unlike  that  of  the  Mandevilles. 
The  original  inscription  contained  practically  nothing  that 


SIR  JOHN   MANDEVILLE  V 

identifies  the  personality  of  the  man  entombed  there ;  a  later 
Latin  inscription  asserts  the  tomb  to  be  Mandeville's,  but 
unfortunately  the  Latin  inscription  confounds  the  alleged 
Sir  John  with  a  physician  Jehan  de  Bourgogne  (or  Bour- 
goigne)  who  is  distinguished  as  "dit  a  la  Barbe."  The 
individual  bearing  this  name  and  distinction  was  certainly  a 
physician  and  a  writer  on  medical  subjects ;  but  whether  the 
physician  was  Sir  John,  or  Sir  John  was  the  physician,  will 
probably  never  be  known.  If  the  physician  was  Sir  John, 
and  if  he  used  his  imagination  as  freely  in  the  practise  of 
physic  as  he  has  in  his  "  Adventures,"  then  may  kind  heaven 
help  the  poor  mortals  upon  whom  he  exercised  his  art. 

In  the  introductory  chapter  the  author  styles  himself  a 
knight,  born  in  St.  Albans,  England.  Beginning  his  travels 
Michaelmas  day,  1322,  he  affirms  that  he  "passed  through 
Tartary,  Persia,  Ermony  [Armenia]  the  Little  and  the  Great ; 
through  Libya,  Chaldea,  and  a  great  part  of  Ethiopia  ;  through 
Amazonia,  Ind  the  Less  and  the  More,  a  great  part ;  and 
throughout  many  other  isles  that  be  about  Ind."  Elsewhere 
he  claims  by  implication  to  have  visited  most  of  the  countries 
of  Europe,  the  Holy  Land,  and  China.  Certain  it  is,  too, 
that  Sir  John  was  something  of  a  lion  during  his  time ;  for 
his  wonderful  tales  touched  a  popular  chord,  and  his  book, 
written  originally  in  French,  was  translated  into  English, 
Latin,  and  indeed  most  other  European  languages. 

But  under  modern  laboratory  methods  of  investigation  we 
do  not  always  need  corroborative  evidence  either  to  con- 
firm or  to  disprove,  and  when  these  methods  are  applied  to 
the  analysis  of  the  author's  personality,  certain  conclusions 
are  quickly  in  evidence.  Foremost  among  these  is  the  ver- 
dict concerning  his  education  and  training ;  and  it  takes  but 
little  to  show  that  he  is  not  guilty  of  the  charge  of  being  a 
knight.  Perhaps  for  a  time  he  may  have  been  a  Sancho 
Panza  to  some  peripatetic  Don  Quixote,  but  his  alleged 
knighthood  was  won,  probably  not  by  a  feat  of  arms, 
but  by  virtue  of  a  disordered  imagination.  Reading  be- 
tween lines  we  may  easily  reach  the  conclusion  that  Sir 
John's  education  savors  of  the  monastery ;  certainly  it  was 
not  the  sort  of  training  that  a  page  at  court  would  receive. 
Moreover,  knights  of  the  fourteenth  century  were  not  given 


vi  SIR   JOHN   MANDEVILLE 

to  indulgence  in  literature,  nor  were  their  infrequent  literary 
efforts  overwhelmed  with  extravasations  of  monkish  Latin. 

That  much  of  the  Levant  and  the  Holy  Land  were  famil- 
iar to  Sir  John,  goes  without  saying ;  but  I  imagine  that  his 
acquaintance  came  about,  not  because  of  a  knightly  pilgrim- 
age, but  rather  because  of  his  employment  as  a  notary  in 
the  retinue  of  some  official  person.  That  his  acquaintance 
beyond  the  commonly  traveled  routes  to  the  Holy  Land 
is  fictitious  or  second-hand,  is  likewise  very  apparent.  Not 
only  does  his  geography  of  location  get  some  queer  twists, 
but  now  and  then  a  suspicion  comes  that  many  of  those  same 
localities  exist  solely  in  his  imagination.  As  a  knight-errant, 
therefore,  we  may  feel  sure  that  he  was  a  stranger  to  armor, 
spurs,  or  horse.  If,  as  has  been  surmised,  he  was  the  use- 
ful  Burgundian  leech,  then  he  settled  into  his  well-filled 
place  in  the  same  easy  manner  that  the  "foreign  count" 
in  America  often  becomes  a  model  head  waiter.  Of  one 
thing,  however,  his  readers  may  be  certain — as  a  resourceful 
liar  he  is  unapproachable  and  without  equal.  This  I  affirm 
not  because,  as  Mr.  Grant  puts  it,  "  the  old  scoundrel  took 
me  in,"  but  rather  because  he  wrote  from  the  standpoint  that 
human  gullibility  is  boundless. 

Turning  now  to  the  book  itself  —  and  it  is  not  a  little  diffi- 
cult to  separate  it  from  the  personality  of  the  author  —  we 
must  apply  laboratory  methods  to  its  analysis  also.  This  Mr. 
Halliwell  and,  more  recently,  Mr.  Yule  and  Mr.  Nicholson 
of  the  Bodleian  Library  have  done  so  thoroughly,  that  any 
effort  of  mine  in  that  direction  would  be  useless,  even  if  it 
were  not  crude  and  unskilful.  The  results  of  analysis  show 
that  as  a  literary  pirate  and  general  pillager.  Sir  John  was 
free  and  liberal ;  he  took  about  everything  in  sight  and  trusted 
to  invention  for  the  rest.  The  only  book  of  travels  that  ap- 
pears to  have  eluded  his  notice  was  that  of  Marco  Polo.  Just 
how  such  a  mine  of  information  escaped  him,  is  not  easy  to 
learn.  Each  one  has  a  quiet,  offhand  way  of  annihilating 
space  and  distance,  it  is  true;  but  beyond  this  neither  in 
style  nor  in  method  are  the  two  books  comparable. 

First  of  all  we  turn  to  the  narrative  of  Odoric,  a  Franciscan 
friar  who  was  despatched  to  the  East  about  13 16,  and  re- 
mained fourteen  years  in  Asia.     His  route  lay  through  Trebi- 


SIR  JOHN   MANDEVILLE  vii 

zond,  Tabriz,  Bagdad,  Ormus,  and  India,  and  thence  to  the 
East  Indies,  China,  and  Tibet,  About  forty  manuscripts  of 
his  travels,  mainly  of  the  fourteenth  century,  are  still  in  exist- 
ence to  show  the  popularity  of  his  narrative.  Thereupon, 
Sir  John,  having  finished  with  the  Holy  Land,  swings  prac- 
tically over  the  same  circle  ;  and  not  only  does  he  appropriate 
Friar  Odoric's  narrative,  root,  trunk,  and  branch,  but  he  stuffs 
and  packs  it  ad  libitum  with  dragon-yarns  drawn  from  his 
ever-fertile  imagination, 

A  second  source  of  information  from  which  he  drew  quite 
freely,  is  the  itinerary  of  William  of  Boldensele,  a  German 
knight.  This  narrative  furnished  certain  very  interesting  in- 
formation about  the  Levant  and  the  Holy  Land,  and  it  is  by 
no  means  improbable  that  it  did  itself  suggest  Sir  John's  book. 
Of  Boldensele's  itinerary  Mr,  Nicholson  says,  "A  compari- 
son of  this  with  Mandeville  leaves  no  doubt  of  the  fact  that 
the  latter  has  followed  its  thread,  using  its  suggestions  and  on 
many  subjects  its  expressions,  though  digressing  and  expand- 
ing on  every  side,  and  too  often  eliminating  the  good  of  the 
German  traveler."  In  my  own  mind  there  is  a  suspicion 
that  Sir  John  borrowed  his  knighthood  from  the  same 
source. 

The  book  of  an  Armenian  monk,  Hetoume,  or  Hayton, 
yielded  a  small  but  distinct  budget  of  information.  Before 
taking  holy  orders  Hayton  had  been  a  soldier  and  a  traveler. 
A  prince  by  heritage,  he  had  been  well  schooled,  and  as  a  geog- 
rapher his  writings  are  of  much  worth,  Hayton's  book  was 
dictated  at  Poictiers  about  1307,  after  he  had  taken  orders. 

The  famous  work  of  John  of  Pian  del  Carpini,  a  Franciscan, 
furnished  not  a  little  material  for  rounding  out  the  few  pages 
devoted  to  Tartary.  I  am  inclined  to  the  belief,  however, 
that  the  substance  appropriated  from  this  source  came  not 
from  the  original,  but  from  a  condensed  compilation.  Friar 
John  was  the  bearer  of  letters  from  Innocent  IV.  to  the  Khan 
of  Tartary,  and  performed  his  mission  in  1245  and  the  two 
years  following.  He  recorded  the  information  obtained  in  his 
journey  in  a  work  entitled  "  Historia  Mongolorum  quos  nos 
Tartaros  appellamus."  The  book  is  somewhat  defective  in 
details  and  therefore  suggested  but  little  to  the  flighty  imagi- 
nation of  Sir  John. 


viii  SIR  JOHN   MANDEVILLE 

The  chapter  in  which  the  author  of  the  "Adventures" 
appears  chiefly  to  let  loose  the  fiery  steeds  of  his  imagination 
is  given  to  the  description  of  Prester  John  and  his  Royal 
Estate.  Prester,  or  Presbyter,  John,  it  may  be  said,  was  a 
mythical  Christian  potentate  who,  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  broke  the  power  of  Islam  in  the  western  part  of 
Asia  and  built  a  great  empire  there  —  at  least,  so  common 
rumor  and  superstition  had  it.^  According  to  vulgar  belief, 
too,  Prester  John  was  leading  an  invincible  army  toward 
Jerusalem  in  order  to  annihilate  the  Mussulmans  and  rees- 
tablish the  Holy  City  as  the  capital  of  the  Christian  Empire. 
About  the  time  when  gossip  began  to  wane  appeared  a 
letter  from  the  artful  presbyter  addressed  to  Comnenus, 
Emperor  of  Constantinople.  The  letter  described  the  empire 
of  John  the  Presbyter  in  terms  that  must  have  brought  glad- 
ness to  the  heart  of  John  the  Knight:  it  is  a  fanciful  in- 
vention, probably  written  with  intent  to  beguile,  and  the 
Oriental  earmarks  are  only  too  plain.  The  great  success 
and  rapid  spreading  of  Nestorianism  lie  at  the  foundation  of 
the  myth  itself,  and  the  letter  is  doubtless  a  whole-cloth 
fabrication  of  a  Nestorian  monk. 

The  last  four  or  five  chapters  of  the  "  Adventures  "  are 
built  almost  wholly  on  Prester  John's  epistle,  and  about  every 
flight  of  fancy  that  escaped  the  author  of  the  epistle  was 
caught  by  Sir  John  and  pressed  into  service.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  these  chapters  are  a  fabric  of  men- 
dacity from  beginning  to  end.  Everything  landed  by  his 
net  was  fish,  and  so  the  story  of  the  phoenix,  that  of  the 
weeping  crocodile,  the  legend  of  the  grains  from  which  grew 
the  wood  of  the  cross,  the  story  of  the  dragon  of  Cos,  and 
many  others,  current  at  that  time,  all  found  their  way  into 
the  "  Adventures." 

In  the  matter  of  details,  the  analysis  of  Mr.  Nicholson 
appears  to  me  as  the  most  logical  I  have  seen,  and  I  herewith 
take  the  liberty  of  copying  it  in  a  condensed  form  :  — 


J  Marco  Polo,  the  Venetian  geographer  who  traveled  through  Tartary 
about  the  time  when  rumor  was  most  active,  identifies  Unk,  a  Tartar  Khan, 
as  the  original  of  Prester  John.  This  warlike  chief  is  said  to  have  borne  a 
Christian  title  also. 


SIR  JOHN   MANDEVILLE  ix 

Prologue.  —  Original. 

Chapters  I-III.  —  Original  and  reasonably  authentic. 

Chapter  IV.  —  First  part  from  Boldensele;  succession  of  Ayubite  and 
Mameluke  monks  from  Hayton. 

Chapters  V-X.  —  The  most  original  and  authentic  part  of  the  book; 
occasional  facts  from  Boldensele. 

Chapter  XI.  —  Fairly  accurate,  but  not  from  personal  experience. 

Chapter  XII.  —  Partly  based  on  Boldensele. 

Chapters  XIII-XX.  —  All  based  on  Friar  Odoric,  with  various  inter- 
polations. 

Chapter  XXI.  —  From  Hayton  and  John  Pian  del  Carpini. 

Chapter  XXII.  —  Mainly  from  Odoric. 

Chapter  XXIII.  —  Mainly  from  Pian  del  Carpini. 

Chapter  XXIV.  —  Chiefly  from  Hayton. 

Chapters  XXV-XXVI.  —  From  Odoric  and  other  sources. 

Chapter  XXVII.  —  From  the  epistle  of  Prester  John,  Odoric,  and 
Hayton. 

Chapter  XXVIII.  —  From  Odoric  and  other  sources. 

Chapters  XXIX-XXX.  —  From  the  romance  of  Alexander,  the  epistle 
of  Prester  John,  and  Pliny. 

Chapter  XXXI.  —  From  Odoric. 

The  oldest  manuscript  known,  the  Earl  of  Ashburnham's, 
bears  the  date  of  1 371.  Of  the  various  English  translations 
all  are  more  or  less  defective,  and  it  is  apparent  to  every  criti- 
cal student  that  not  a  single  one  of  them  was  made  by  the 
author  of  the  "  Adventures  "  himself.  All  of  them  contain 
glaring  and  ridiculous  errors  of  translation  ;  some  of  them  are 
abbreviated  ;  and  some  have  evidently  suffered  interpolation. 
Critical  students  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  Cotton  manu- 
script of  the  British  Museum  represents  the  best  form,  and 
this  is  the  one  upon  which  most  English  versions  are  now 
based.  In  the  present  edition  only  such  liberties  have  been 
taken  by  the  editors  as  will  make  the  book  readable  ;  and  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  there  can  be  no  "  original "  in  English, 
such  changes  are  perfectly  legitimate. 

As  a  specimen  of  one  of  the  English  versions  I  give  the 
following,  from  Chapter  XXIX,  p.  191  :  — 

"  So  it  befelle,  that  this  Emperour  cam,  with  a  Cristene  Knyght 
with  him,  into  a  Chirche  in  Egypt :  and  it  was  Saterday  in  Wyttson 
woke.  And  the  Bishop  made  Orders.  And  he  beheld  and  listened 
the  Servyse  fuUe  tentyfly :  and  he  askit  the  Cristene  Knyght,  what 
Men  of  Degree  thei  scholden  ben,  that  the  Prelate  had  before  him. 


X  SIR   JOHN   MANDEVILLE 

And  the  Knyght  answerede  and  seyde,  that  thei  scholden  ben 
Preestes,  and  then  the  Emperour  seyde  that  he  wolde  no  longer  ben 
clept  Kynge  ne  Emperour  but  Preeste  :  and  that  he  wolde  have  the 
name  of  the  first  Freest  that  went  out  of  the  Chirche  ;  and  his  Name 
was  John.     And  so  evere  more  sittiens,  he  is  clept  Prestre  John." 

Perhaps  this  form  would  have  been  pleasing  as  a  novelty ; 
but  the  great  majority  of  readers,  to  whom  the  philological 
side  presents  no  attraction,  will  always  value  the  book  for  its 
literary  art  —  and  as  a  study  in  literature  it  is  deserving  of  a 
place  among  the  best  of  books. 

To  appreciate  the  "Adventures,"  one  must  put  away  the 
notion  that  the  book  is  a  geographical  treatise.  Whoever 
takes  the  volume  in  hand  for  this  purpose  would  better  lay  it 
aside  without  even  so  much  as  turning  the  leaves :  to  read 
"  Gulliver's  Travels  "  for  the  acquisition  of  useful  information 
would  not  be  more  absurd.  Each,  in  its  own  way,  is  a  bril- 
liant example  of  the  use  of  the  imagination  in  literature,  — the 
"  Adventures,"  we  may  say,  were  written  with  a  different 
intent ;  but  stripped  of  their  assumed  character  they  are  not 
out  of  place  in  the  ranks  of  fiction.  From  a  psychological 
aspect,  too,  they  are  interesting :  scarce  a  leaf  is  turned  that 
does  not  disclose  the  bumptious  personality  of  Sir  John.  It 
is  not  an  offensive  personality  —  only  self-assertive :  shut 
your  eyes  tight  as  you  can,  and  you  still  see  his  lips  move,  as 
the  discourse  rolls  volubly  out  between  them.  And  shall  we 
condemn  him  because  of  the  overwhelming  flood  of  his  men- 
dacity ?  Perish  the  thought !  Other  liars  have  been  callous 
and  brazen :  Sir  John  is  always  modest  and  conscientious. 
Does  he  not  always  excuse  his  most  rousing  whids  with  some 
such  apology  as  —  "  Men  seyne  it,  but  I  did  not  see  it  "  }  His 
kindness  of  heart,  too,  always  crops  out  at  the  surface.  He 
sees  the  better  side  only  of  the  persons  whom  he  describes ; 
even  his  dragons  and  devils  appear  to  be  softened  by  the 
workings  of  the  inner  conscience. 

Hut,  when  we  turn  the  searchlight  of  modern  criticism  upon 
Sir  John's  book,  and  put  it  in  its  most  unfavorable  light,  the 
sins  of  omission  and  commission  are  not  vastly  greater  than 
those  one  finds  in  nineteenth-century  literature.  In  the  time 
of  the  author,  neither  piracy  on  the  high  seas  nor  robbery  on 


SIR  JOHN   MANDEVILLE  XI 

the  highway  was  thought  a  grave  crime :  could  one  expect 
that  plagiarism  would  be  held  more  unrighteous  ?  Moreover, 
even  though  he  may  have  erred  as  grievously  as  I  have 
pointed  out,  certain  it  is  his  punishment  has  been  intolerable ; 
for  has  he  not  had  editors,  and  critics,  and  introductors, 
and  redactors  without  number  ?     Vale,  Sir  John ! 

Jacques  W.  Redway. 


THE   AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 


FOR  as  much  as  the  Land  beyond  the  Sea,  that  is  to  say 
the  Holy  Land,  that  Men  call  the  Land  of  Promise  or 
of  Behest,  passing  all  other  Lands,  is  the  most  worthy 
Land,  most  excellent,  and  Lady  and  Sovereign  of  all  other 
Lands,  and  is  blessed  and  hallowed  by  the  precious  Body 
and  Blood  of  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ ;  in  the  which  Land  it 
liked  Him  to  take  Flesh  and  Blood  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  to 
honour  that  Holy  Land  with  His  blessed  Feet;  and  there 
He  would  of  His  Blessedness  enshadow  Him  in  the  said 
blessed  and  glorious  Virgin  Mary,  and  become  Man,  and 
work  many  Miracles,  and  preach  and  teach  the  Faith  and 
the  Law  of  Christian  Men  unto  His  Children;  and  there  it 
liked  Him  to  suffer  many  Reprovings  and  Scorns  for  us ; 
and  He  that  was  King  of  Heaven,  of  Air,  of  Earth,  of  Sea 
and  of  all  Things  that  be  contained  in  them,  would  only  for 
all  be  clept  King  of  that  Land,  when  He  said,  "  Rex  sum 
Judaeorum,"  that  is  to  say,  "  I  am  King  of  the  Jews  " ;  and 
that  Land  He  chose  before  all  other  Lands,  as  the  best  and 
most  worthy  Land,  and  the  most  virtuous  Land  of  all  the 
World :  for  it  is  the  Heart  and  the  Midst  of  all  the  World ; 
witness  the  Philosopher,  that  saith  thus,  "  Virtus  Rerum  in 
Medio  consistit,"  that  is  to  say,  "The  Virtue  of  Things  is  in 
the  Midst "  ;  and  in  that  Land  He  would  lead  His  Life,  and 
suffer  Passion  and  Death  of  the  Jews,  for  us,  to  buy  and 
deliver  us  from  Pains  of  Hell,  and  from  Death  without  End ; 
the  which  was  ordained  for  us,  for  the  Sin  of  our  Forefather 
Adam,  and  for  our  own  Sins  also ;  for  as  for  Himself,  He 
had  no  Evil  deserved :  for  He  thought  never  Evil  nor  did 
Evil:  and  He  that  was  King  of  Glory  and  of  Joy,  might  best 
in  that  Place  suffer  Death ;  because  He  chose  in  that  Land 
rather  than  in  any  other,  there  to  suffer  His  Passion  and  His 


xiv  MANDEVILLE 

Death.  For  he  that  will  publish  anything  to  make  it  openly 
known,  he  will  make  it  to  be  cried  and  pronounced  in  the 
middle  Place  of  a  Town ;  so  that  the  Thing  that  is  proclaimed 
and  pronounced,  may  alike  stretch  to  all  Parts :  right  so,  He 
that  was  Maker  of  all  the  World,  would  suffer  for  us  at  Jeru- 
salem, that  is  the  Midst  of  the  World;  to  that  End  and  In- 
tent, that  His  Passion  and  His  Death,  that  was  published 
there,  might  be  known  alike  to  all  Parts  of  the  World. 

See  now,  how  dear  He  bought  Man,  that  He  made  after 
His  own  Image,  and  how  dear  He  again  bought  us,  for  the 
great  Love  that  He  had  to  us,  and  we  never  deserved  it  of 
Him.  For  more  precious  Chattel  or  greater  Ransom  might 
He  not  put  for  us,  than  His  blessed  Body,  His  precious  Blood, 
and  His  holy  Life,  that  He  enthralled  for  us;  and  all  these 
He  offered  for  us  that  never  did  Sin. 

Dear  God !  What  Love  had  He  to  us  His  Subjects,  when 
He  that  never  trespassed,  would  for  Trespassers  suffer  Death  ! 
Right  well  ought  we  to  love  and  worship,  to  dread  and  serve 
such  a  Lord ;  and  to  worship  and  praise  such  an  Holy  Land, 
that  brought  forth  such  Fruit,  through  the  which  every  Man 
is  saved,  but  it  be  by  his  own  Default.  Well  may  that  Land 
be  called  delectable  and  a  fruitful  Land,  that  was  be-bled  and 
moisted  with  the  precious  Blood  of  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ ;  the 
which  is  the  same  Land  that  our  Lord  plighted  us  in  Herit- 
age. And  in  that  Land  He  would  die  as  seised,  to  leave  it  to 
us.  His  Children. 

Wherefore  every  good  Christian  Man,  that  is  of  Power,  and 
hath  whereof,  should  strengthen  him  to  conquer  our  right 
Heritage,  and  chase  out  all  the  misbelieving  Men.  For  we 
be  clept  Christian  Men,  after  Christ  our  Father.  And  if  we 
be  right  Children  of  Christ,  we  ought  to  challenge  the  Herit- 
age that  our  Father  left  us,  and  take  it  out  of  heathen  Men's 
Hands.  But  now  Pride,  Covetousness,  and  Envy  have  so 
inflamed  the  Hearts  of  Lords  of  the  World,  that  they  are 
more  busy  to  dis-herit  their  Neighbours,  than  to  challenge  or 
to  conquer  their  right  Heritage  before-said.  And  the  common 
People,  that  would  put  their  Bodies  and  their  Chattels  to  con- 
quer our  Heritage,  they  may  not  do  it  without  the  Lords. 
For  an  Assembly  of  People  without  a  Chieftain,  or  a  chief 
Lord,  is  as  a  Flock  of  Sheep  without  a  Shepherd ;  the  which 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE  XV 

departeth  and  disperseth  and  wist  never  whither  to  go.  But 
would  God,  that  the  temporal  Lords  and  all  worldly  Lords 
were  at  good  Accord,  and  with  the  common  People  would 
take  this  holy  Voyage  over  the  Sea !  Then  I  trow  well,  that 
within  a  little  time  our  right  Heritage  before-said  should  be 
recovered  and  put  in  the  Hands  of  the  right  Heirs  of  Jesu 
Christ. 

And,  for  as  much  as  it  is  long  time  passed,  that  there  was 
no  general  Passage  nor  Voyage  over  the  Sea;  and  many  Men 
desire  to  hear  speak  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  have  thereof  great 
Solace  and  Comfort ;  —  I,  John  Mandeville,  Knight,  all  be  it 
I  be  not  worthy,  that  was  born  in  England,  in  the  Town  of 
St.  Albans,  passed  the  Sea  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord  Jesu 
Christ  1322,  in  the  Day  of  St.  Michael;  and  hitherto  have 
been  long  time  over  the  Sea,  and  have  seen  and  gone  through 
many  diverse  Lands,  and  many  Provinces  and  Kingdoms  and 
Isles,  and  have  passed  through  Tartary,  Persia,  Ermony 
[Armenia]  the  Little  and  the  Great ;  through  Lybia,  Chaldea, 
and  a  great  Part  of  Ethiopia ;  through  Amazonia,  Ind  the  Less 
and  the  More,  a  great  Part ;  and  throughout  many  other  Isles, 
that  be  about  Ind ;  where  dwell  many  diverse  Folks,  and  of 
diverse  Manners  and  Laws,  and  of  diverse  Shapes  of  Men. 
Of  which  Lands  and  Isles  I  shall  speak  more  plainly  here- 
after. 

And  I  shall  advise  you  of  some  Part  of  Things  that  there 
be,  when  Time  shall  be  hereafter,  as  it  may  best  come  to  my 
Mind ;  and  specially  for  them  that  will  and  are  in  Purpose 
to  visit  the  Holy  City  of  Jerusalem  and  the  holy  Places  that 
are  thereabout.  And  I  shall  tell  the  Way  that  they  shall 
hold  thither.  For  I  have  often  times  passed  and  ridden  the 
Way,  with  good  Company  of  many  Lords.     God  be  thanked  I 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  I  have  put  this  Book  out  of 
Latin  into  French,  and  translated  it  again  out  of  French  into 
English,  that  every  Man  of  my  Nation  may  understand  it ; 
and  that  Lords  and  Knights  and  other  noble  and  worthy  Men 
that  know  Latin  but  little,  and  have  been  beyond  the  Sea, 
may  know  and  understand,  that  if  I  err  in  devising,  from  for- 
getting or  other  Thing,  they  may  redress  or  amend  it.  For 
Things  passed  out  of  long  time  from  a  Man's  Mind  or  from 
his  Sight,  turn  soon  into  forgetting;  because  that  the  Mind 


xvi  MANDEVILLE 

of  Man  may  not  be  comprehended  or  withheld,  by  reason  of 
the  Frailty  of  Mankind. 

The  extent  of  Mr.  Layard's  work  in  modernizing  the  text  may  be 
seen  from  the  following  specimens  from  the  original  editions  in  English 
and  French :  — 

"  For  als  moche  as  the  Londe  bezond  the  See,  that  is  to  seye,  the  Holy 
Lond,  that  Men  callen  the  Lond  of  Promyssioun,  or  of  Beheste  passynge 
alle  othere  Londes,  is  the  most  worthi  Lond,  most  excellent  and  Lady  and 
Sovereign  of  alle  othere  Londes,  and  is  blessed  and  halewed  of  the  Precyous 
Body  and  Blood  of  oure  Lorde  Jesu  Christ ;  in  the  whiche  Lond  it  lykede 
him  to  take  Flesche  and  Blood  of  the  Virgyne  Marie,  to  envyrone  that  Holy 
Lond  with  his  blessede  Feet." 

Comme  il  soit  ainsi  que  la  Terre  doultre  Mer  cest  aller  voir  le  samte 
Terre  de  Promission  en  tres  toutes  les  autres  Terres,  cest  la  plus  excellente 
et  la  plus  digne  et  Dame  souveraine  de  toutes  autres  Terres  et  benoite  et 
samtesie  et  consacree  du  precieux  Corps  et  du  precieux  Sang  notre  Seigneur 
Jhesu  Christ  ou  ly  pleut  soy  enombrer  en  la  glorieuse  Vierge  Marie  et 
prendre  Char  humaine." 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 

PAGB 

To  teach  you  the  Way  out  of  England  to  Constantinople  .         .         .         i 

CHAPTER    n 
Of  the  Cross  and  the  Crown  of  Our  Lord  Jesu  Christ        ...        3 

CHAPTER   HI 
Of  the  City  of  Constantinople,  and  of  the  Faith  of  the  Greeks  .         .        7 

CHAPTER   IV 

Of  the  Way  from  Constantinople  to  Jerusalem.  Of  Saint  John  the 
Evangelist.  Of  the  Daughter  of  Ypocras,  transformed  from  a 
Woman  to  a  Dragon 11 

CHAPTER  V 
Of  many  Names  of  Sultans.     And  of  the  Tower  of  Babylon      .        .       18 

CHAPTER  VI 

Of  the  Desert  between  the  Church  of  Saint  Catherine  and  Jerusalem. 

Of  the  dry  Tree.     And  how  Roses  came  first  in  the  World         .       37 

CHAPTER  VII 
Of  the  Pilgrimages  in  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Holy  Places  thereabout .      43 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Of  the  Temple  of  our  Lord.     Of  the  Cruelty  of  King  Herod.    Of  the 

Mount  Sion.     Of  Probatica  Piscina ;  and  of  Natatorium  Siloe    .       48 

xvii 


xviii  MANDEVILLE 


CHAPTER  IX 

PAGS 

Of  the  Dead  Sea ;  and  of  the  River  Jordan.     Of  the  Head  of  Saint 

John  the  Baptist;  and  of  the  Usages  of  the  Samaritans      .         .       60 

CHAPTER    X 

Of  the  Province  of  GaHlee,  and  where  Anti-Christ  shall  be  born.  Of 
Nazareth.  Of  the  Age  of  our  Lady.  Of  the  Day  of  Doom. 
And  of  the  Customs  of  the  Jacobites  and  the  Syrians ;  and  of 
the  Usages  of  the  Georgians 66 

CHAPTER  XI 

Of  the  City  of  Damascus.  Of  3  Ways  to  Jerusalem :  one.  by  Land 
and  by  Sea ;  another,  more  by  Land  than  by  Sea ;  and  the  3rd 
Way  to  Jerusalem  all  by  Land 74 

CHAPTER  XII 

Of  the  Customs  of  Saracens,  and  of  their  Law.  And  how  the  Sultan 
questioned  me,  the  Author  of  this  Book ;  and  of  the  beginning 
of  Mohammet 80 

CHAPTER   XIII 

Of  the  Lands  of  Albania  and  of  Libia.  Of  the  Wishings  for  Watch- 
ing the  Sparrow-hawk.     And  of  Noah's  Ship      ....       88 

CHAPTER    XIV 

Of  the  Land  of  Job ;  and  of  his  Age.  Of  the  Array  of  Men  of  Chal- 
dea.  Of  the  Land  where  Women  dwell  without  Company  of 
Men.     Of  the  Knowledge  and  Virtues  of  the  true  Diamond         .       94 

CHAPTER   XV 

Of  the  Customs  of  Isles  about  Ind.  Of  the  Difference  betwixt  Idols 
and  Simulacres.  Of  3  Manners  of  Pepper  growing  upon  one 
Tree.  Of  the  Well  that  changeth  his  Odour  every  Hour  of  the 
Day;  and  that  is  a  Marvel loi 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Of  the  Judgments  made  by  Saint  Thomas.  Of  Devotion  and  Sacri- 
fice made  to  Idols  there,  in  the  City  of  Calamye ;  and  of  the 
Procession  in  the  going  about  the  City 108 


CONTENTS  xix 


CHAPTER  XVII 

PACK 

Of  the  evil  Customs  used  in  the  Isle  of  Lamary.  And  how  the  Earth 
and  the  Sea  be  of  round  Form  and  Shape,  by  Proof  of  the  Star 
that  is  clept  Antarctic,  that  is  fixed  in  the  South         .        .        .112 

CHAPTER   XVIII 

Of  the  Palace  of  the  King  of  the  Isle  of  Java.  Of  the  Trees  that 
bear  Meal,  Honey,  Wine,  and  Venom ;  and  of  other  Marvels 
and  Customs  used  in  the  Isles  marching  thereabout    .         .        .118 

CHAPTER  XIX 

How  Men  know  by  the  Idol  if  the  Sick  shall  die  or  not.  Of  Folk  of 
Diverse  Shape  and  marvellously  disfigured.  And  of  the  Monks 
that  give  their  Leavings  to  Baboons,  Apes,  and  Marmosets,  and 
to  other  Beasts 126 

CHAPTER   XX 

Of  the  great  Chan  of  Cathay.  Of  the  Royalty  of  his  Palace,  and 
how  he  sits  at  Meat ;  and  of  the'  great  Number  of  Officers  that 
sei've  him 133 

CHAPTER   XXI 

Wherefore  he  is  clept  the  great  Chan.  Of  the  Style  of  his  Letters; 
and  of  the  Superscription  about  his  great  Seal  and  his  Privy 
Seal 138 

CHAPTER  XXII 

Of  the  Governance  of  the  great  Chan's  Court,  and  when  he  maketh 
solemn  Feasts.  Of  his  Philosophers.  And  of  his  Array  when 
he  rideth  by  the  Country    ........     145 

CHAPTER   XXIII 

Of  the  Law  and  the  Customs  of  the  Tartars  dwelling  in  Cathay. 
And  how  that  Men  do,  when  the  Emperor  shall  die,  and  how  he 
shall  be  chosen 155 

CHAPTER   XXIV 

Of  the  Realm  of  Thurse  and  the  Lands  and  Kingdoms  towards  the 
Septentrional  or  Northern  Parts,  in  coming  down  from  the  Land 
of  Cathay 161 


XX  MANDEVILLE 

CHAPTER  XXV 

PAGB 

Of  the  Emperor  of  Persia,  and  of  the  Land  of  Darkness.  And  of 
other  Kingdoms  that  belong  to  the  great  Chan  of  Cathay,  and 
other  Lands  of  his,  unto  the  Sea  of  Greece  ....     163 

CHAPTER    XXVI 

Of  the  Countries  and  Isles  that  be  beyond  the  Land  of  Cathay.  And 
of  the  Fruits  there.  And  of  the  22  Kings  enclosed  within  the 
Mountains 168 

CHAPTER  XXVII 

Of  the  Royal  Estate  of  Prester  John.     And  of  a  rich  Man  that  made 

a  marvellous  Castle,  and  called  it  Paradise  ;  and  of  his  Subtlety     172 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

Of  the  Devil's  Head  in  the  Valley  Perilous.  And  of  the  Customs  of 
Folk  in  diverse  Isles  that  be  about,  in  the  Lordship  of  Prester 
John 180 

CHAPTER   XXIX 

Of  the  Goodness  of  the  Folk  of  the  Isle  of  Bragman.  Of  King  Alex- 
ander. And  wherefore  the  Emperor  of  Ind  is  clept  Prester 
John 186 

CHAPTER  XXX 

Of  the  Hills  of  Gold  that  Pismires  keep.     And  of  the  4  Rivers  that 

come  from  Terrestrial  Paradise 192 

CHAPTER   XXXI 

Of  the  Customs  of  Kings  and  others  that  dwell  in  the  Isles  coasting 
to  Prester  John's  Land.  And  of  the  Worship  that  a  Son  doth 
to  his  Father  when  he  is  dead    .         .         .         .         .         .         ,196 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING    PAf;U 

The  Wonders  of  the  World  ....         Frontispiece 
Miniature  from  a  manuscript  copy  of  Mandeville's  Travels 

Reduced    fac-simile   illustrations   from    the  earliest 

PRINTED    EDITIONS    OF    MaNDEVILLE xxii 

Cave  of  the  Cross 46 

Photogravure  from  an  engraving 

Jerusalem  from  the  Mount  of  Olives        .        ...      58 
Photogravure  from  a  painting  by  Harry  Fenn 

xxi 


/ 


FAMOUS    AND    UNIQUE    MANUSCRIPT   AND 
BOOK    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

A  series  of  fac-siniiles,  showing  the  development  of  manuscript  and 
book  illustrating  during  4000  years. 


Reduced  fac- similes  of  illustrations   in  the  earliest  printed  editions  of 
Mandeville's  work  : 

(1)  The  Dog-headed  Folk.      Page  123. 

(2)  The  Flat- faced  People,      Page  127. 

(3)  The  Wild  Men  with  Horns  and  Hoofs.      Page  174. 

(4)  The  People  with  Eyes  in  their  Shoulders.      Page  127. 

(5)  The  Beast  that  Groweth  as  Fruit.      Page  168. 

(6)  The  Folk  that  have  but  one  Foot.      Page  97. 


3 

# 

« 

4 

<^     <^ 

VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS 


CHAPTER   I 

To  teach  yoti  the  Way  out  of  England  to  Constantinople 

IN  the  Name  of  God,  Glorious  and  Almighty  ! 
He  that  will  pass  over  the  Sea,  to  go  to  the  City  of 
Jerusalem,  he  may  go  by  many  Ways,  both  on  Sea  and 
Land,  after  the  Country  that  he  cometh  from ;  for  many  of 
them  come  to  the  one  End. 

But  trow  not  that  I  will  tell  you  all  the  Towns,  and  Cities 
and  Castles  that  Men  shall  go  by ;  for  then  should  I  make 
too  long  a  Tale ;  but  only  some  Countries  and  most  principal 
Stages  that  Men  shall  go  through  to  go  the  right  Way. 

First,  if  a  Man  come  from  the  West  Side  of  the  World,  as 
England,  Ireland,  Wales,  Scotland,  or  Norway,  he  may,  if  that 
he  will,  go  through  Almayne  (Germany),  and  through  the 
Kingdom  of  Hungary,  that  marcheth  with  the  Land  of 
Polayne  (Poland),  and  with  the  Land  of  Pannonia,  and  so  to 
Silesia. 

And  the  King  of  Hungary  is  a  great  Lord  and  a  mighty, 
and  holdeth  great  Lordships  and  much  Land  in  his  Hand. 
For  he  holdeth  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  Sclavonia,  and  of 
Comania  a  great  Part,  and  of  Bulgaria  that  Men  call  the 
Land  of  Bougiers,  and  of  the  Realm  of  Russia  a  great  Part, 
whereof  he  hath  made  a  Duchy,  that  stretcheth  unto  the 
Land  of  Nyfland  (Livonia),  and  marcheth  with  Prussia.  And 
Men  go  through  the  Land  of  this  Lord,  through  a  City  that 
is  clept  Cypron  (Odenburg),  and  by  the  Castle  of  Neasburghe 
(Meseburch),  and  by  the  evil  Town,  that  sitteth  toward  the 
End  of  Hungary.  And  there  Men  pass  the  River  of  Dan- 
ube.   This  River  of  Danube  is  a  full  great  River,  and  it  goeth 


2  MANDEVILLE 

into  Almayne,  under  the  Hills  of  Lombardy,  and  it  receiveth 
into  hin\  40  other  R.'veis,  and  it  runneth  through  Hungary 
and  through  Greece  and  through  Thrace,  and  it  entereth  into 
the  S(a,  t'j-.va'd  tne  East  so  rudely  and  so  sharply,  that  the 
Water  of  the  Sea  is  fresh  and  holdeth  his  Sweetness  20  Mile 
within  the  Sea. 

And  after,  go  Men  to  Belgrade,  and  enter  into  the  Land  of 
Bougiers  ;  and  there  Men  pass  a  Bridge  of  Stone  that  is  upon 
the  River  of  Marrok  (Morava).  And  Men  pass  through  the 
Land  of  Pyncemartz  (Petschenegs),  and  come  to  Greece  to 
the  City  of  Nye  (Sofia),  and  to  the  City  of  Fynepape  (Philip- 
oppolis),  and  after  to  the  City  of  Dandrenoble  (Adrianople), 
and  after  to  Constantinople,  that  was  wont  to  be  clept  Bezan- 
zon  (Byzantium).  And  there  dwelleth  commonly  the  Em- 
peror of  Greece.  And  there  is  the  most  fair  Church  and  the 
most  noble  of  all  the  World ;  and  it  is  that  of  Saint  Sophia. 
And  before  that  Church  is  the  Image  of  Justinian  the 
Emperor,  covered  with  Gold,  and  he  sits  upon  an  Horse 
a-crowned.  And  he  was  wont  to  hold  a  round  Apple  of 
Gold  in  his  Hand  :  but  it  is  fallen  out  thereof.  And  Men  say 
there,  that  it  is  a  Token  that  the  Emperor  hath  lost  a  great 
Part  of  his  Lands  and  of  his  Lordships;  for  he  was  wont  to 
be  Emperor  of  Roumania  and  of  Greece,  of  all  Asia  the  Less, 
and  of  the  Land  of  Syria,  of  the  Land  of  Judea  in  the  which 
is  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Land  of  Egypt,  of  Persia,  and  of 
Arabia.  But  he  hath  lost  all  but  Greece ;  and  that  Land  he 
holds  only.  And  Men  would  many  times  put  the  Apple  into 
the  Image's  Hand  again,  but  it  will  not  hold  it.  This  Apple 
betokeneth  the  Lordship  that  he  had  over  all  the  World,  that 
is  round.  And  the  tother  Hand  he  lifteth  up  against  the 
East,  in  token  to  menace  the  Misdoers.  This  Image  stands 
upon  a  Pillar  of  Marble  at  Constantinople. 


CHAPTER   II 

Of  the  Cross  and  the  Crown  of  our  Lord  Jesu   Christ 

T  Constantinople  is  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jcsu  Christ, 
and  His  Coat  without  Seams,  that  is  clept  "Tunica 
inconsutilis,"  and  the  Sponge,  and  the  Reed,  with 
which  the  Jews  gave  our  Lord  Vinegar  and  Gall,  on  the 
Cross.  And  there  is  one  of  the  Nails,  that  Christ  was  nailed 
with  on  the  Cross. 

And  some  Men  trow  that  half  the  Cross,  that  Christ  was 
put  on,  is  in  Cyprus,  in  an  Abbey  of  Monks,  that  Men  call 
the  Hill  of  the  Holy  Cross ;  but  it  is  not  so.  For  that  Cross 
that  is  in  Cyprus,  is  the  Cross,  on  the  which  Dismas  the  good 
Thief  was  hanged.  But  all  Men  know  not  that ;  and  that  is 
evilly  done,  that  for  Profit  of  the  Offerings,  they  say  that  it 
is  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ. 

And  ye  shall  understand  that  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  was 
made  of  four  Manner  of  Trees,  as  it  is  contained  in  this 
Verse,  — 

"  In  Cruce  fit  Palma,  Cedrus,  Cypressus,  Oliva." 

For  that  Piece  that  went  upright  from  the  Earth  to  the  Head 
was  of  Cypress ;  and  the  Piece  that  went  overthwart,  to  the 
which  His  Hands  were  nailed,  was  of  Palm ;  and  the  Stock, 
that  .stood  within  the  Earth,  in  the  which  was  made  the  Mor- 
tise, was  of  Cedar;  and  the  Tablet  above  His  Head,  that  was 
a  Foot  and  a  half  long,  on  the  which  the  Title  was  written  in 
Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin,  that  was  of  Olive. 

And  the  Jews  made  the  Cross  of  these  four  Manner  of 
Trees;  for  they  thought  that  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ  should 
have  hanged  on  the  Cross,  as  long  as  the  Cross  might  last. 
And  therefore  made  they  the  Foot  of  the  Cross  of  Cedar ; 
for  Cedar  may  not  rot  in  Earth  nor  Water,  and  therefore  they 
would  that  it  should  have  lasted  long.     For  they  trowed  that 

3 


4  MANDEVILLE 

the  Body  of  Christ  should  have  stunken  ;  therefore  they  made 
that  Piece,  that  went  from  the  Earth  upwards  of  Cypress,  for 
it  is  well-smelling,  so  that  the  Smell  of  His  Body  should  not 
grieve  Men  that  went  thereby.  And  the  overthwart  Piece 
was  of  Palm,  for  in  the  Old  Testament  it  was  ordained,  that 
when  one  overcame  he  should  be  crowned  with  Palm  ;  for 
they  trowed  that  they  had  the  Victory  of  Christ  Jesus,  there- 
fore made  they  the  overthwart  Piece  of  Palm.  And  the 
Tablet  of  the  Title  they  made  of  Olive ;  for  Olive  betokeneth 
Peace.  And  the  Story  of  Noah  witnesseth  that  when  the 
Culver  brought  the  Branch  of  Olive,  that  betokened  Peace 
made  between  God  and  Man.  And  so  trowed  the  Jews  to 
have  Peace,  when  Christ  was  dead ;  for  they  said  that  He 
made  Discord  and  Strife  amongst  them.  And  ye  shall 
understand  that  our  Lord  was  a-nailed  on  the  Cross  lying, 
and  therefore  He  suffered  the  more  Pain. 

And  the  Christian  Men,  that  dwell  beyond  the  Sea,  in 
Greece,  say  that  the  Tree  of  the  Cross,  that  we  call  Cypress, 
was  of  that  Tree  that  Adam  ate  the  Apple  off ;  and  that  find 
they  written.  And  they  say  also,  that  their  Scripture  saith, 
that  Adam  was  sick,  and  said  to  his  Son  Seth,  that  he  should 
go  to  the  Angel  that  kept  Paradise,  that  he  would  send  him 
Oil  of  Mercy,  to  anoint  his  Members,  that  he  might  have 
Health.  And  Seth  went.  But  the  Angel  would  not  let  him 
come  in ;  but  said  to  him,  that  he  might  not  have  the  Oil  of 
Mercy.  But  he  took  him  3  Grains  of  the  same  Tree,  that 
his  Father  ate  the  Apple  off;  and  bade  him,  as  soon  as  his 
Father  was  dead,  that  he  should  put  these  3  Grains  under 
his  Tongue,  and  bury  him  so :  and  he  did.  And  of  these  3 
Grains  sprang  a  Tree,  as  the  Angel  said  that  it  should,  and 
bare  a  Fruit,  through  the  which  Fruit  Adam  should  be  saved. 
And  when  Seth  came  again,  he  found  his  Father  near  dead. 
And  when  he  was  dead,  he  did  with  the  Grains  as  the  Angel 
bade  him ;  of  the  which  sprung  3  Trees,  of  the  which  the 
Cross  was  made,  that  bare  good  Fruit  and  blessed,  our  Lord 
Jesu  Christ ;  through  whom,  Adam  and  all  that  come  of  him, 
should  be  saved  and  delivered  from  Dread  of  Death  with- 
out End,  but  it  be  by  their  own  Default. 

This  Holy  Cross  had  the  Jews  hid  in  the  Earth,  under  a 
Rock  of  the  Mount  of  Calvary;  and  it  lay  there  200  Year 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  5 

and  more,  into  the  Time  of  St.  Helen,  that  was  Mother 
to  Constantine  the  Emperor  of  Rome.  And  she  was 
Daughter  of  King  Coel,  born  in  Colchester,  that  was  King 
of  England,  that  was  clept  then  Britain  the  More ;  the  which 
the  Emperor  Constantinus  wedded  as  his  Wife,  for  her 
Beauty,  and  begat  by  her  Constantine,  that  was  after  Em- 
peror of  Rome. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  was 
8  Cubits  long,  and  the  overthwart  Piece  was  of  Length  8 
Cubits  and  a  half.  And  one  Part  of  the  Crown  of  our  Lord, 
wherewith  He  was  crowned,  and  one  of  the  Nails,  and  the 
Spear  Head,  and  many  other  Relics  be  in  France,  in  the 
King's  Chapel.  And  the  Crown  lieth  in  a  Vessel  of  Crystal 
richly  dight.  For  a  King  of  France  bought  these  Relics 
some  time  of  the  Jews,  to  whom  the  Emperor  had  laid  them 
in  Pledge  for  a  great  Sum  of  Silver. 

And  if  it  be  so,  as  Men  say,  that  this  Crown  is  of  Thorns, 
ye  shall  understand,  that  it  was  of  Jonkes  of  the  Sea,  that  is 
to  say.  Rushes  of  the  Sea,  that  prick  as  sharply  as  Thorns. 
For  I  have  seen  and  beholden  many  times  that  of  Paris  and 
that  of  Constantinople ;  for  they  were  both  one,  made  of 
Rushes  of  the  Sea.  But  Men  have  parted  them  in  2  Parts : 
of  the  which,  one  Part  is  at  Paris,  and  the  other  Part  is  at 
Constantinople.  And  I  have  one  of  those  precious  Thorns, 
that  seemeth  like  a  white  Thorn ;  and  that  was  given  to  me 
for  a  great  Rarity.  For  there  are  many  of  them  broken  and 
fallen  into  the  Vessel  that  the  Crown  lieth  in  ;  for  they  break 
for  Dryness  when  Men  move  them  to  shew  them  to  great 
Lords  that  come  thither. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  our  Lord  Jesu,  in  that  Night 
that  He  was  taken,  was  led  into  a  Garden ;  and  there  He  was 
first  examined  right  sharply ;  and  there  the  Jews  scorned 
Him,  and  made  Him  a  Crown  of  the  Branches  of  Albespine, 
that  is  White  Thorn,  that  grew  in  that  same  Garden,  and  set 
it  on  His  Head,  so  fast  and  so  sore,  that  the  Blood  ran  down 
by  many  Places  of  His  Visage,  and  of  His  Neck,  and  of 
His  Shoulders.  And  therefore  hath  White  Thorn  many 
Virtues,  for  he  that  beareth  a  Branch  thereof  on  him,  no 
Thunder  nor  no  manner  of  Tempest  may  hurt  him ;  nor  in 
the  House,  that  it  is  in,  may  no  evil  Ghost  enter  nor  come 


6  MANDEVILLE 

unto  the  Place  that  it  is  in.  And  in  that  same  Garden,  Saint 
Peter  denied  our  Lord  thrice. 

Afterward  was  our  Lord  led  forth  before  the  Bishops  and 
the  Masters  of  the  Law,  into  another  Garden  of  Annas ; 
and  there  also  He  was  examined,  reproved,  and  scorned,  and 
crowned  again  with  a  White  Thorn,  that  men  call  Barbarines, 
that  grew  in  that  Garden,  and  that  hath  also  many  Virtues. 

And  afterward  He  was  led  into  a  Garden  of  Caiphas,  and 
there  He  was  crowned  with  Eglantine. 

And  after  He  was  led  into  the  Chamber  of  Pilate,  and  there 
He  was  examined  and  crowned.  And  the  Jews  set  Him  in  a 
Chair,  and  clad  Him  in  a  Mantle ;  and  there  made  they  the 
Crown  of  Jonkes  (or  Rushes)  of  the  Sea ;  and  there  they 
kneeled  to  Him,  and  scorned  Him,  saying,  "  Ave,  Rex  Jude- 
orum  !  "  that  is  to  say,  "  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews  !  "  And  of 
this  Crown,  half  is  at  Paris,  and  the  other  half  at  Constanti- 
nople. And  this  Crown  had  Christ  on  His  Head,  when  He 
was  put  upon  the  Cross ;  and  therefore  ought  Men  to  worship 
it  and  hold  it  more  worthy  than  any  of  the  others. 

And  the  Spear  Shaft  hath  the  Emperor  of  Almayne ;  but 
the  Head  is  at  Paris.  And  nevertheless  the  Emperor  of  Con- 
stantinople saith  that  He  hath  the  Spear  Head ;  and  I  have 
often  time  seen  it,  but  it  is  greater  than  that  at  Paris. 


CHAPTER   III 

Of  the  City  of  Constantinople,  and  of  the  Faith  of  the  Greeks 

AT  Constantinople  lieth  Saint  Anne,  our  Lady's  Mother, 
whom  Saint  Helen  did  bring  from  Jerusalem.  And 
there  lieth  also  the  Body  of  John  Chrisostome,  that 
was  Archbishop  of  Constantinople.  And  there  lieth  also 
Saint  Luke  the  Evangelist :  For  his  Bones  were  brought 
from  Bethany  (Bithynia),  where  he  was  buried.  And  many 
other  Relics  be  there.  And  there  is  the  Vessel  of  Stone,  as  it 
were  of  Marble,  that  Men  call  Enydros,  that  evermore  droppeth 
Water,  and  filieth  himself  every  Year,  till  that  it  run  over, 
besides  what  Men  take  from  within. 

Constantinople  is  a  full  fair  City,  and  a  good,  and  well 
walled ;  and  it  is  3-cornered.  And  there  is  an  Arm  of  the 
Sea  of  Hellespont :  and  some  Men  call  it  the  Mouth  of  Con- 
stantinople ;  and  some  Men  call  it  the  Brace  (or  Arm)  of 
Saint  George :  and  that  Arm  closeth  the  2  Parts  of  the  City. 
And  upward  to  the  Sea,  upon  the  Water,  was  wont  to  be  the 
great  City  of  Troy,  in  a  full  fair  Plain :  but  that  City  was 
destroyed  by  them  of  Greece,  and  little  appears  now  thereof, 
because  it  is  so  long  since  it  was  destroyed. 

About  Greece  there  be  many  Isles,  as  Calliste,  Calcas 
(Carki),  Critige  (Ortygia),  Tesbria,  Mynia,  Flaxon,  Melo, 
Carpate  (Scarpanto)  and  Lemnos.  And  in  this  latter  Isle  is 
the  Mount  Athos,  that  passeth  the  Clouds.  And  there  be 
many  diverse  Languages  and  many  Countries,  that  be  obedi- 
ent to  the  Emperor ;  that  is  to  say,  Turcople,  Pyneynard, 
Cornange,  and  many  other,  as  Thrace  and  Macedonia,  of  the 
which  Alexander  was  King.  In  this  Country  was  Aristotle 
born,  in  a  City  that  Men  call  Stagyra,  a  little  Way  from  the 
City  of  Thrace.  And  at  Stagyra  lieth  Aristotle ;  and  there 
is  an  Altar  upon  his  Tomb.  And  there  make  Men  great 
Feasts  for  him  every  Year,  as  though  he  were  a  Saint.  And 
at  his  Altar  they  hold  their  great  Councils  and  their  Assem- 

7 


8  MANDEVILLE 

blies,  and  they  hope  that  through  Inspiration  of  God  and  of 
him,  they  shall  have  the  better  Council. 

In  this  Country  be  right  high  Hills,  toward  the  End  of 
Macedonia.  And  there  is  a  great  Hill,  that  Men  call  Olym- 
pus, that  parteth  Macedonia  and  Thrace.  And  it  is  so  high, 
that  it  passeth  the  Clouds.  And  there  is  another  Hill  that 
is  clept  Athos,  that  is  so  high,  that  the  Shadow  of  him 
reacheth  to  Lemne,  that  is  an  Isle  ;  and  it  is  ']6  Mile  between. 
And  above  at  the  Top  of  the  Hill  is  the  Air  so  clear,  that 
Men  may  find  no  Wind  there,  and  therefore  may  no  Beast 
live  there ;  and  so  is  the  Air  dry. 

And  Men  say  in  these  Countries,  that  Philosophers  some- 
time went  upon  these  Hills,  and  held  to  their  Noses  a  Sponge 
moisted  with  Water,  to  have  Air ;  for  the  Air  above  was  so 
dry.  And  above,  in  the  Dust  and  in  the  Powder  of  those 
Hills,  they  wrote  Letters  and  Figures  with  their  Fingers. 
And  at  the  Year's  End  they  came  again,  and  found  the  same 
Letters  and  Figures,  the  which  they  had  written  the  Year 
before,  without  any  Default.  And  therefore  it  seemeth  well, 
that  these  Hills  pass  the  Clouds  and  join  to  the  pure  Air. 

At  Constantinople  is  the  Palace  of  the  Emperor,  right  fair 
and  well-disposed :  and  therein  is  a  fair  Place  for  Joustings, 
or  for  other  Plays  and  Sports.  And  it  is  made  with  Stages, 
and  hath  Steps  about,  that  every  Man  may  see  well,  and  not 
irk  one  another.  And  under  these  Stages  be  Stables  well 
vaulted  for  the  Emperor's  Horses ;  and  all  the  Pillars  be  of 
Marble. 

And  within  the  Church  of  Saint  Sophia,  an  Emperor  some- 
time would  have  buried  the  Body  of  his  Father,  when  he  was 
dead.  And,  as  they  made  the  Grave,  they  found  a  Body  in 
the  Earth,  and  upon  the  Body  lay  a  fine  Plate  of  Gold ;  and 
thereon  was  written,  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin,  Letters 
that  said  thus;  "Jesu  Christus  nascetur  de  Virgine  Maria, 
et  ego  credo  in  Eum  ;  "  that  is  to  say,  "  Jesu  Christ  shall  be 
born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  I  trow  in  Him."  And  the 
Date  when  it  was  laid  in  the  Earth,  was  2000  Year  before 
our  Lord  was  born.  And  the  Plate  of  Gold  is  yet  in  the 
Treasury  of  the  Church.  And  Men  say,  that  it  was  Hermo- 
genes  the  Wise  Man. 

And  how  be  it  that  the  Men  of  Greece  be  Christian  yet 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  9 

they  vary  from  our  Faith.  For  they  say,  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  may  not  come  of  the  Son ;  but  only  of  the  Father. 
And  they  are  not  obedient  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  nor  to  the 
Pope.  And  they  say  that  their  Patriarch  hath  as  much 
Power  over  beyond  the  Sea,  as  the  Pope  hath  on  this  side 
the  Sea.  And  therefore  Pope  John  XXII.  sent  Letters  to 
them,  how  the  Christian  Faith  should  be  all  one ;  and  that 
they  should  be  obedient  to  the  Pope,  that  is  God's  Vicar  on 
Earth,  to  whom  God  gave  plenary  Power  to  bind  and  to 
assoil,  and  therefore  should  they  be  obedient  to  him. 

And  they  sent  back  again  diverse  Answers ;  and  among 
others  they  said  thus  :  "  Potientam  tuam  summam  circa  tuos 
subjectos,  firmiter  credimus.  Superbiam  tuam  summam  tole- 
rare  non  possumus.  Avaritiam  tuam  summam  satiare  non 
intendimus.  Dominus  tecum;  quia  Dominus  nobiscum  est." 
That  is  to  say :  "  We  trow  well,  that  thy  Power  is  great  upon 
thy  Subjects.  We  may  not  suffer  thine  high  Pride.  We  be 
not  in  Purpose  to  fulfil  thy  great  Covetousness.  Lord  be 
with  thee ;  for  our  Lord  is  with  us.  Farewell."  And  other 
Answer  might  he  not  have  of  them. 

And  also  they  make  their  Sacrament  of  the  Altar  of 
Therf  (or  unleavened)  Bread,  for  our  Lord  made  it  of  such 
Bread,  when  he  made  his  Maundy  (or  Last  Supper).  And 
on  the  Shere-Thursday  make  they  their  Therf  Bread,  in 
token  of  the  Maundy,  and  dry  it  at  the  Sun,  and  keep  it  all 
the  Year,  and  give  it  to  sick  Men,  instead  of  God's  Body. 
And  they  make  but  one  Unction,  when  they  christen  Chil- 
dren. And  they  anoint  not  the  sick  Men.  And  they  say 
that  there  is  no  Purgatory,  and  the  Souls  shall  not  have  Joy 
or  Pain  till  the  Day  of  Doom.  And  they  say  that  Fornica- 
tion is  no  deadly  Sin,  but  a  thing  that  is  natural :  and  that 
Men  and  Women  should  not  wed  but  once,  and  whoso  wed- 
deth  oftener  than  once,  their  Children  be  Bastards  and  be- 
gotten in  Sin.     And  their  Priests  also  be  wedded. 

And  they  say  also  that  Usury  is  no  deadly  Sin.  And  they 
sell  Benefices  of  Holy  Church.  And  so  do  Men  in  other 
Places  :  God  amend  it  when  His  Will  is  !  And  that  is  great 
Scandal,  for  now  is  Simony  King  crowned  in  Holy  Church : 
God  amend  it  for  His  Mercy ! 

And  they  say,  that  in  Lent,  Men  shall  not  fast,  nor  sing 


lO  MANDEVILLE 

Mass,  but  on  the  Saturday  and  on  the  Sunday.  And  they 
fast  not  on  the  Saturday,  at  no  time  of  the  Year,  but  it  be 
Christmas  Eve  or  Easter  Eve,  And  they  suffer  not  the 
Latins  to  sing  at  their  Altars ;  and  if  they  do,  by  any  Adven- 
ture, anon  they  wash  the  Altar  with  holy  Water.  And  they 
say  that  there  should  be  but  one  Mass  said  at  one  Altar  upon 
one  Day. 

And  they  say  also  that  our  Lord  did  never  eat  Meat ;  but 
he  made  Sign  of  eating.  And  also  they  say,  that  we  sin 
deadly  in  shaving  our  Beards,  for  the  Beard  is  Token  of  a 
Man,  and  Gift  of  our  Lord.  And  they  say  that  we  sin 
deadly,  in  eating  of  Beasts  that  were  forbidden  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  of  the  old  Law,  as  Swine,  Hares  and  other 
Beasts,  that  chew  not  their  Cud.  And  they  say  that  we  sin, 
when  we  eat  Flesh  on  the  Days  before  Ash  Wednesday,  and 
when  that  we  eat  Flesh  the  Wednesday,  and  Eggs  and  Cheese 
upon  the  Fridays.  And  they  accursc  all  those  that  abstain 
them  to  eat  Flesh  the  Saturday. 

Also  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople  maketh  the  Patriarch, 
the  Archbishops  and  the  Bishops ;  and  giveth  the  Dignities 
and  the  Benefices  of  Churches  and  depriveth  them  that  be 
unworthy,  when  he  findeth  any  Cause.  And  so  is  he  Lord 
both  temporal  and  spiritual  in  his  Country. 

And  if  ye  will  here  wot  of  A. B.C.  what  Letters  they  be, 
here  ye  may  see  them,  with  the  Names  that  they  call  them 
there  amongst  them :  a,  Alpha;  /3,  Beta;  7,  Gamma;  S,  Delta; 
e,  Epsilon ;  ^,  Zeta;  77,  Eta;  6,  Theta ;  t,  Iota;  fc,  Kappa; 
X,  Lambda;  /n,  Mu  ;  y,  Nu;  f,  Xi;  o,  Omicron  ;  tt,  Pi;  /9,  Rho  ; 
a,  Sigma ;  t,  Tau  ;  v,  Upsilon  ;  cf),  Phi ;  %,  Chi ;  -v/r,  Psi ;  o>, 
Omega. 

And  all  be  it  that  these  Things  touch  not  to  one  Way, 
nevertheless  they  touch  to  that,  that  I  have  told  you,  to  shew 
you  a  Part  of  the  Customs  and  Manners,  and  Diversities  of 
Countries.  And  as  this  is  the  first  Country  that  is  discordant 
in  Faith  and  in  Belief,  and  varieth  from  our  Faith,  on  this 
Half  the  Sea,  therefore  I  have  set  it  here,  that  ye  may  know 
the  Diversity  that  is  between  our  Faith  and  theirs.  For 
many  Men  have  great  Liking,  to  hear  speak  of  strange 
Things  of  divers  Countries. 


CHAPTER   IV 

Of  the  Way  frojn  Constantinople  to  Jerusalem.  Of  Saint  John 
the  Evangelist.  And  of  the  Daughter  of  Ypocras,  transformed 
from  a   Woman  to  a  Dragon 

NOW  return  I  again,  to  teach  you  the  way  from  Constan- 
tinople to  Jerusalem.  He  that  will,  goeth  through 
Turkey  toward  the  city  of  Nyke  (Nicea),  and  passeth 
through  the  Gate  of  Chienetout  (Gemlik),  and  always  Men 
see  before  them  the  Hill  of  Chienetout,  that  is  right  high; 
and  it  is  a  Mile  and  a  half  from  Nyke, 

And  whoso  will  go  by  Water,  by  the  Brace  of  St.  George, 
and  by  the  Sea  where  St.  Nicholas  lieth,  and  toward  many 
other  Places  —  first  Men  go  to  an  Isle  that  is  clept  Sylo 
(Scio).  In  that  Isle  groweth  Mastick  on  small  Trees,  and 
out  of  them  cometh  Gum,  as  it  were  of  Plum-trees  or  of 
Cherry-trees. 

And  after  Men  go  through  the  Isle  of  Patmos ;  and  there 
wrote  St.  John  the  Evangelist  the  Apocalypse.  And  ye  shall 
understand,  that  St.  John  was  of  Age  32  Year,  when  our 
Lord  suffered  His  Passion ;  and  after  His  Passion,  he  lived 
6y  Year,  and  in  the  looth  Year  of  his  Age  he  died. 

From  Patmos  Men  go  unto  Ephesus,  a  fair  City  and  nigh 
to  the  Sea.  And  there  died  St.  John,  and  was  buried  behind 
the  high  Altar  in  a  Tomb.  And  there  is  a  fair  Church  ;  for 
Christian  Men  were  wont  to  hold  that  Place  always.  And  in 
the  Tomb  of  St.  John  is  nought  but  Manna,  that  is  clept 
Angels'  Meat ;  for  his  Body  was  translated  into  Paradise. 
And  the  Turks  now  hold  all  that  Place,  and  the  City  and  the 
Church  (and  all  Asia  the  Less  is  a-clept  Turkey).  And  ye 
shall  understand,  that  St.  John  let  make  his  Grave  there  in 
his  Life,  and  laid  himself  therein  all  alive  ;  and  therefore  some 
Men  say,  that  he  died  not,  but  that  he  resteth  there  till  the 
Day  of  Doom.  And,  forsooth,  there  is  a  great  Marvel ;  for 
Men  may  see  there  the  Earth  of  the  Tomb  openly  many  times 
stir  and  move,  as  though  there  were  alive  Things  underneath. 


12  MANDEVILLE 

And  from  Ephesus  Men  go  through  many  Isles  in  the  Sea, 
unto  the  City  of  Patera,  where  St.  Nicholas  was  born,  and  so 
to  Martha  (Myra),  where  he  was  chosen  to  be  Bishop  ;  and 
there  groweth  right  good  Wine  and  strong,  and  that  Men  call 
Wine  of  Martha.  And  from  thence  go  Men  to  the  Isle  of 
Crete,  that  the  Emperor  gave  some-time  to  the  Genoese. 

And  then  pass  Men  through  the  Isles  of  Colos  and  of 
Lango  (Cos),  of  the  which  Isles  Ypocras  ^  was  Lord.  And 
some  Men  say,  that  in  the  Isle  of  Lango  is  yet  the  Daughter 
of  Ypocras,  in  Form  and  Likeness  of  a  great  Dragon,  that  is 
a  100  Fathom  of  Length,  as  Men  say,  for  I  have  not  seen 
her.  And  they  of  the  Isles  call  her  Lady  of  the  Land.  And 
she  lieth  in  an  old  Castle,  in  a  Cave,  and  sheweth  twice  or  thrice 
in  the  Year,  and  she  doth  no  Harm  to  no  Man,  but  if  Men 
do  her  Harm.  And  she  was  thus  changed  and  transformed, 
from  a  fair  Damosel,  into  Likeness  of  a  Dragon,  by  a  God- 
dess that  was  clept  Diana.  And  Men  say,  that  she  shall  so 
endure  in  that  Form  of  a  Dragon,  unto  the  Time  that  a  Knight 
come,  that  is  so  hardy,  that  dare  come  to  her  and  kiss  her  on 
the  Mouth ;  and  then  shall  she  turn  again  to  her  own  Kind, 
and  be  a  Woman  again,  but  after  that  she  shall  not  live  long. 

And  it  is  not  long  since,  that  a  Knight  of  Rhodes,  that  was 
hardy  and  doughty  in  Arms,  said  that  he  would  kiss  her. 
And  when  he  w^as  upon  his  Courser,  and  went  to  the  Castle, 
and  entered  into  the  Cave,  the  Dragon  lift  up  her  Head 
against  him.  And  when  the  Knight  saw  her  in  that  Form  so 
hideous  and  so  horrible  he  fled  away.  And  the  Dragon  bare 
the  Knight  upon  a  Rock,  maugre  his  Head ;  and  from 
that  Rock,  she  cast  him  into  the  Sea.  And  so  was  lost  both 
Horse  and  Man. 

And  also  a  young  Man,  that  wist  not  of  the  Dragon,  went 
out  of  a  Ship,  and  went  through  the  Isle  till  that  he  came  to 
the  Castle,  and  came  into  the  Cave,  and  went  so  long,  till 
that  he  found  a  Chamber ;  and  there  he  saw  a  Damosel  that 
combed  her  Head  and  looked  in  a  Mirror ;  and  she  had  much 
Treasure  about  her.  And  he  trowed  that  she  had  been  a 
common  Woman,  that  dwelled  there  to  receive  Men  to  Folly. 

*  Hippocrates,  the  celebrated  physician,  who  was  born  at  Lango  (an- 
other name  for  Cos). 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 3 

And  he  abode,  till  the  Damosel  saw  the  Shadow  of  him  in  the 
Mirror.  And  she  turned  her  toward  him,  and  asked  him  what 
he  would  ?  And  he  said,  he  would  be  her  Leman  or  Para- 
mour. And  she  asked  him,  if  that  he  were  a  Knight  ?  And 
he  said,  Nay.  And  then  she  said,  that  he  might  not  be  her 
Leman  ;  but  she  bade  him  go  again  unto  his  Fellows,  and 
make  him  Knight,  and  come  again  upon  the  Morrow,  and  she 
should  come  out  of  the  Cave  before  him,  and  then  he  should 
come  and  kiss  her  on  the  Mouth  and  have  no  Dread,  —  "  for 
I  shall  do  thee  no  manner  of  Harm,  albeit  that  thou  see  me 
in  Likeness  of  a  Dragon  ;  for  though  thou  see  me  hideous  and 
horrible  to  look  on,  I  charge  thee  to  know  that  it  is  made  by 
Enchantment ;  for  without  Doubt,  I  am  none  other  than  thou 
seest  now,  a  Woman,  and  therefore  dread  thou  nought.  And 
if  thou  kiss  me,  thou  shalt  have  all  this  Treasure,  and  be  my 
Lord,  and  Lord  also  of  all  the  Isle." 

And  he  departed  from  her  and  went  to  his  Fellows  to  the 
Ship,  and  let  make  him  a  Knight  and  came  again  upon  the 
Morrow  to  kiss  this  Damosel.  And  when  he  saw  her  come 
out  of  the  Cave  in  Form  of  a  Dragon,  so  hideous  and  horrible, 
he  had  so  great  Dread,  that  he  fled  again  to  the  Ship,  and 
she  followed  him.  And  when  she  saw  that  he  turned  not 
again,  she  began  to  cry,  as  a  Thing  that  had  much  Sorrow ; 
and  then  she  turned  again  into  her  Cave.  And  anon  the 
Knight  died.  And  since  then  might  no  Knight  see  her,  but 
that  he  died  anon.  But  when  a  Knight  cometh,  that  is  so 
hardy  to  kiss  her,  he  shall  not  die  ;  but  he  shall  turn  the 
Damosel  into  her  right  Form  and  natural  Shape,  and  he  shall 
be  Lord  of  all  the  Countries  and  Isles  above-said. 

And  from  thence  Men  come  to  the  Isle  of  Rhodes,  the 
which  Isle  the  Hospitallers  hold  and  govern ;  and  that  took 
they  some-time  from  the  Emperor.  And  it  was  wont  to  be 
clept  Collos  ;  ^  and  so  the  Turks  call  it  yet.  And  Saint  Paul 
in  his  Epistle  writes  to  them  of  that  Isle  "ad  Colosscnses."  ^ 
This  Isle  is  nigh  800  Mile  from  Constantinople. 

And  from  this  Isle  of  Rhodes  Men  go  to  Cyprus,  where 
be  many  Vines,  that  first  be  red  and  after  one  Year  they 

1  From  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes. 

2  As  a  matter  of  fact,  St.  Paul's  Epistle  is  to  the  people  of  Colossae  in 
Phrygia  Major. 


14  MANDEVILLE 

become  white ;  and  those  Wines  that  be  most  white,  be  most 
clear  and  best  of  Smell. 

And  Men  pass  by  that  Way,  by  a  Place  that  was  wont  to 
be  a  great  City,  and  a  great  Land ;  and  the  City  was  clept 
Cathailye  (Satalia),  the  which  City  and  Land  was  lost  through 
Folly  of  a  young  Man.  For  he  had  a  fair  Damosel,  that  he 
loved  well  for  his  Paramour ;  and  she  died  suddenly,  and  was 
put  in  a  Tomb  of  Marble.  And  for  the  great  Lust  that  he 
had  to  her,  he  went  in  the  Night  unto  her  Tomb  and  opened 
it,  and  went  in  and  lay  by  her,  and  went  his  Way.  And 
when  it  came  to  the  End  of  9  Months,  there  came  a  Voice 
to  him  and  said,  "  Go  to  the  Tomb  of  that  Woman,  and  open 
it  and  behold  what  thou  hast  begotten  on  her ;  and  if  thou 
fail  to  go,  thou  shalt  have  a  great  Harm."  And  he  went  and 
opened  the  Tomb,  and  there  fled  out  an  Head  right  hideous 
to  see ;  the  which  all  swiftly  flew  about  the  City  and  the 
Country,  and  soon  after  the  City  sank  down.  And  there  be 
many  perilous  Passages.^ 

From  Rhodes  to  Cyprus  be  500  Mile  and  more.  But  Men 
may  go  to  Cyprus,  and  not  touch  at  Rhodes.  Cyprus  is  a 
right  good  Isle,  and  a  fair  and  a  great,  and  it  hath  4  principal 
Cities  within  him.  And  there  is  an  Archbishop  at  Nicosea, 
and  4  other  Bishops  in  that  Land.  And  at  Famagusta  is 
one  of  the  principal  Havens  of  the  Sea  that  is  in  the  World ; 
and  there  arrive  Christian  Men  and  Saracens  and  Men  of  all 
Nations.  In  Cyprus  is  the  Hill  of  the  Holy  Cross ;  and  there 
is  an  Abbey  of  black  Monks,  and  there  is  the  Cross  of  Dismas 
the  good  Thief,  as  I  have  said  before.  And  some  Men  trow, 
that  there  is  half  the  Cross  of  our  Lord ;  but  it  is  not  so,  and 
they  do  Evil  that  make  Men  to  believe  so. 

In  Cyprus  licth  Saint  Zenonimus,  of  whom  Men  of  that 
Country  make  great  Solemnity.  And  in  the  Castle  of 
Amours  licth  the  Body  of  Saint  Hilarion,  and  Men  keep  it 
right  worshipfully.  And  beside  Famagusta  was  Saint  Barna- 
bas the  Apostle  born. 

In  Cyprus  Men  hunt  with  Papyonns,  that  be  like  Leopards, 
and  they  take  wild  Beasts  right  well,  and  they  be  somewhat 
more  big  than  Lions  ;  and  they  take  more  sharply  the  Beasts, 
and  more  nimbly  than  do  Hounds. 

^  For  ships,  that  is. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1$ 

In  Cyprus  it  is  the  Manner  of  Lords  and  all  other  Men  to 
eat  on  the  Earth.  For  they  make  Ditches  in  the  Earth  all 
about  in  the  Hall,  deep  to  the  Knee,  and  they  do  pave  them; 
and  when  they  will  eat,  they  go  therein  and  sit  there.  And 
the  Reason  is  that  they  may  be  the  more  cool;  for  that  Land 
is  much  more  hotter  than  it  is  here.  And  at  great  Feasts,  and 
for  Strangers,  they  set  Forms  and  Tables,  as  Men  do  in  this 
Country,  but  they  had  rather  sit  in  the  Earth. 

From  Cyprus,  Men  go  to  the  Land  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Sea :  and  in  a  Day  and  in  a  Night,  he  that  hath  good  Wind 
may  come  to  the  Haven  of  Tyre,  that  is  now  clept  Sur, 
There  was  some-time  a  great  City  and  a  good  of  Christian 
Men,  but  Saracens  have  destroyed  it  a  great  Part ;  and  they 
keep  that  Haven  right  well,  for  Dread  of  Christian  Men. 
Men  might  go  more  straight  to  that  Haven,  and  touch  not  at 
Cyprus,  but  they  go  gladly  to  Cyprus  to  rest  them  on  the 
Land,  or  else  to  buy  Things,  that  they  have  need  for  their 
Living.  On  the  Sea-side  Men  may  find  many  Rubies.  And 
there  is  the  Well,  the  which  Holy  Writ  speaketh  of,  and 
saith,  "  Fons  Ortorum,  et  Puteus  Aquarum  viventium  :  "  that 
is  to  say,  "  The  Well  of  Gardens,  and  the  Ditch  of  Living 
Waters." 

In  this  City  of  Tyre,  said  the  Woman  to  our  Lord,  "  Bcatus 
Venter  qui  Te  portavit,  et  Ubera  que  succisti : "  that  is  to 
say,  "  Blessed  be  the  Body  that  bare  Thee,  and  the  Paps  that 
Thou  suckedst."  And  there  our  Lord  forgave  the  Woman 
of  Canaan  her  Sins.  And  before  Tyre  was  wont  to  be  the 
Stone,  on  the  which  our  Lord  sat  and  preached,  and  on  that 
Stone  was  founded  the  Church  of  Saint  Saviour. 

And  8  mile  from  Tyre,  toward  the  East,  upon  the  Sea,  is 
the  City  of  Sarphen  (Surafcnd)  in  Sarepta  of  the  Sidonians. 
There  was  wont  to  dwell  Elijah  the  Prophet;  and  there 
raised  he  Jonas,  the  Widow's  Son,  from  Death  to  Life.  And 
5  Mile  from  Sarphen  is  the  City  of  Sidon  ;  of  the  which  City, 
Dido  was  Lady,  that  was  Eneas'  Wife,  after  the  Destruction 
of  Troy,  and  that  founded  the  City  of  Carthage  in  Africa, 
now  clept  Didonsarte.  And  in  the  City  of  Tyre,  reigned 
Agenor,  the  Father  of  Dido.  And  i6  Mile  from  Sidon  is 
Beirout.  And  from  Beirout  to  Sardenare  is  3  Days'  Journey. 
And  from  Sardenare  it  is  5  Mile  to  Damascus. 


l6  MANDEVILLE 

And  whoso  will  go  long  time  on  the  Sea,  and  come  nearer 
to  Jerusalem,  he  shall  go  by  Sea  to  the  Port  Jaffa.  For  that 
is  the  next  Haven  to  Jerusalem  ;  for  from  that  Haven  is  not 
but  one  Day's  Journey  and  an  half  to  Jerusalem,  And  the 
Town  is  called  Jaffa ;  for  one  of  the  Sons  of  Noah  named 
Japhet  founded  it,  and  now  it  is  clept  Joppa.  And  ye  shall 
understand,  that  it  is  one  of  the  oldest  Towns  of  the  World, 
for  it  was  founded  before  Noah's  Flood.  And  even  yet  the 
Rock  showeth  there,  how  the  Iron  Chains  were  fastened, 
that  Andromeda,  a  great  Giant,  was  bounden  with,^  and  put 
in  Prison  before  Noah's  Flood.  And  there  be  Bones  of  the 
Giant's  Side  40  Foot  long. 

And  whoso  vnW  arrive  at  the  Port  of  Tyre  or  of  Sur,  that 
I  have  first  spoken  of  before,  may  go  by  Land,  if  he  will,  to 
Jerusalem.  And  Men  go  from  Sur  unto  the  City  of  Acre  in 
a  Day.  And  it  was  clept  some-time  PtolemaYs.  And  it  was 
some-time  a  City  of  Christian  Men,  and  full  fair,  but  it  is  now 
destroyed  ;  and  it  stands  upon  the  Sea.  And  from  Venice  to 
Acre,  by  Sea,  is  2080  Lombardy  Miles ;  and  from  Calabria, 
or  from  Sicily  to  Acre,  by  Sea,  is  1300  Lombardy  Miles;  and 
the  Isle  of  Crete  is  right  in  the  Midway. 

And  beside  the  City  of  Acre,  toward  the  Sea,  120  Furlongs 
on  the  right  Side,  toward  the  South,  is  the  Hill  of  Carmel, 
where  Elijah  the  Prophet  dwelled,  and  there  was  the  Order 
of  Friars  Carmelites  first  founded.  This  Hill  is  not  right 
great,  nor  full  high.  And  at  the  Foot  of  this  Hill  was  some- 
time a  good  City  of  Christian  Men,  that  Men  clept  Caiffa, 
for  Caiaphas  first  founded  it ;  but  it  is  now  all  waste.  And 
on  the  left  Side  of  the  Hill  of  Carmel  is  a  Town,  that  Men 
call  Saffre  (Sephoris),  and  that  is  set  on  another  Hill.  There 
Saint  James  and  Saint  John  were  born ;  and,  in  Worship  of 
them  there  is  a  fair  Church.  And  from  Ptolemais,  that  Men 
now  call  Acre,  unto  a  great  Hill,  that  is  clept  the  Scale  (or 
Ladder)  of  Tyre,  is  100  Furlongs.  And  beside  the  City  of 
Acre  runneth  a  little  River,  that  is  clept  Belon  (Belus). 

*  According  to  Greek  mythology,  Andromeda  was  the  daughter  of 
Cepheus,  King  of  Ethiopia.  The  oracle  having  declared  that  her  death 
was  necessary  to  rid  the  Ethiopians  of  the  plague  of  a  sea-monster,  she 
was  chained  to  a  rock,  but  was  rescued  by  Perseus,  who  slew  the  monster. 
The  version  here  is  evidently  Sir  John's  own. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 7 

And  there  nigh  is  the  Foss  of  Mennon  that  is  all  round ; 
and  it  is  lOO  Cubits  of  Largeness,  and  it  is  all  full  of  Gravel, 
shining  bright,  of  the  which  Men  make  fair  and  clear  Verres 
(or  Crystal  Glasses).  And  Men  come  from  far,  by  Water  in 
Ships,  and  by  Land  with  Carts,  to  fetch  of  that  Gravel.  And 
though  there  be  never  so  much  taken  away  thereof  in  the 
Day,  at  the  Morrow  it  is  as  full  again  as  ever  it  was ;  and  that 
is  a  great  Marvel.  And  there  is  evermore  great  Wind  in  that 
Foss,  that  stirreth  evermore  the  Gravel,  and  maketh  it  troubled. 
And  if  any  Man  put  therein  any  sort  of  Metal,  it  turneth  anon 
to  Glass.  And  the  Glass,  that  is  made  of  that  Gravel,  if  it  be 
put  again  into  the  Gravel,  it  turneth  anon  into  Gravel  as  it 
was  first.  And  therefore  some  Men  say,  that  it  is  a  Whirl- 
pool of  the  gravelly  Sea. 

And  from  Acre,  above-said.  Men  go  forth  4  Days'  Journey 
to  the  City  of  Palestine,  that  was  of  the  Philistines,  that  now 
is  clept  Gaza,  that  is  a  gay  City  and  a  rich ;  and  it  is  right 
fair  and  full  of  Folk,  and  it  is  a  little  from  the  Sea.  And 
from  this  City  brought  Samson  the  Strong  the  Gates  upon 
an  high  Land,  when  he  was  taken  in  that  City,  and  there  he 
slew  in  a  Palace  the  King  and  himself,  and  great  Number  of 
the  best  of  the  Philistines,  the  which  had  put  out  his  Eyes 
and  shaved  his  Head,  and  imprisoned  him  by  Treason  of 
Delilah  his  Paramour.  And  therefore  he  made  fall  upon  them 
a  great  Hall,  when  they  were  at  Meat. 

And  from  thence  go  Men  to  the  city  of  Cesarea,  and  so  to 
the  Castle  of  Pilgrims  (Athlet),  and  so  to  Ascalon ;  and  then 
to  Jaffa,  and  so  to  Jerusalem. 


CHAPTER   V 

OJ  many  Names  of  Sultans,  and  of  the  Tower  of  Babylon 

AND  whoso  will  go  by  land  through  the  Land  of  Babylon, 
where  the  Sultan  dwelleth  commonly,  he  must  get 
Grace  of  him  and  Leave  to  go  more  securely  through 
those  Lands  and  Countries. 

And  to  go  to  the  Mount  of  Sinai,  before  that  Men  go  to 
Jerusalem,  they  shall  go  from  Gaza  to  the  Castle  of  Daire 
(Daron).  And  after  that.  Men  come  out  of  Syria,  and  enter 
into  a  Wilderness,  and  there  the  Way  is  sandy ;  and  that 
Wilderness  and  Desert  lasteth  an  8  Days'  Journey,  but  always 
Men  find  good  Inns,  and  all  that  they  need  of  Victuals. 

And  Men  call  that  Wilderness  Achelleke.  And  when  a 
Man  Cometh  out  of  that  Desert,  he  entereth  into  Egypt,  that 
Men  call  Egypt-Canopac,  and  after  other  Languages,  Men 
call  it  Morsyn.  And  there  first  Men  find  a  good  Town,  that 
is  clept  Belethe  (Belbais);  and  it  is  at  the  End  of  the  King- 
dom of  Aleppo.  And  from  thence  Men  go  to  Babylon  and  to 
Cairo. 

At  Babylon  there  is  a  fair  Church  of  our  Lady,  where  she 
dwelled  7  Year,  when  she  fled  out  of  the  Land  of  Judea  for 
Dread  of  King  Herod.  And  there  lieth  the  Body  of  Saint 
Barbara  the  Virgin  and  Martyr.  And  there  dwelled  Joseph, 
when  he  was  sold  by  his  Brethren.  And  there  made  Nebu- 
chadnezzar the  King  to  be  put  3  Children  into  the  Furnace  of 
Fire,  because  they  were  in  the  right  Truth  of  Belief,  the  which 
Children  Men  call  Anania,  Azariah,  Mishael,  as  the  Psalm  of 
"  Benedicite  "  saith :  but  Nebuchadnezzar  clept  them  otherwise, 
Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego,  that  is  to  say,  God  glori- 
ous, God  victorious,  and  God  over  all  Things  and  Realms  : 
And  that  was  for  the  Miracle,  that  he  saw  God's  Son  go  with 
the  Children  through  the  Fire,  as  he  said. 

There  dwelleth  the  Sultan  in  his  Calahelyke  (for  there  is 
commonly  his  Seat)  in  a  fair  Castle,  strong  and  great,  and 

18 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 9 

well  set  upon  a  Rock.  In  that  Castle  dwell  always,  to  keep  it 
and  to  serve  the  Sultan,  more  than  6000  Persons,  that  take  all 
their  Necessaries  from  the  Sultan's  Court.  I  ought  right  well 
to  know  it ;  for  I  dwelled  with  him  as  Soldier  a  great  while, 
in  his  Wars  against  the  Bedouins.  And  he  would  have  married 
me  full  highly  to  a  great  Prince's  Daughter,  if  I  would  have 
forsaken  my  Law  and  my  Belief ;  but  I  thank  God,  I  had  no 
Will  to  do  it,  for  anything  that  he  promised  me. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  the  Sultan  is  Lord  of  5  King- 
doms, that  he  hath  conquered  and  appropriated  to  himself  by 
Strength.  And  these  be  the  Names  :  the  Kingdom  of  Cana- 
pac,  that  is  Egypt ;  and  the  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  where 
that  David  and  Solomon  were  Kings ;  and  the  Kingdom  of 
Syria,  of  the  which  the  City  of  Damascus  was  chief  ;  and  the 
Kingdom  of  Aleppo  in  the  Land  of  Mathe  ;  and  the  Kingdom 
of  Arabia,  that  belonged  to  one  of  the  3  Kings,  that  made 
Offering  to  our  Lord,  when  He  was  born.  And  many  other 
Lands  he  holdeth  in  his  Hand.  And  therewithal  he  holdeth 
Caliphs,  that  is  a  full  great  Thing  in  their  Language,  and  it  is 
as  much  as  to  say  King. 

And  there  were  wont  to  be  5  Sultans  ;  but  now  there  is  no 
more  but  he  of  Egypt.  And  the  first  Sultan  was  Zarocon,  that 
was  of  Media,  as  was  Father  to  Saladin  that  took  the  Caliph  of 
Egypt  and  slew  him,  and  was  made  Sultan  by  Strength.  After 
him  was  Sultan  Saladin,  in  whose  Time  the  King  of  England, 
Richard  the  First,  with  many  others,  kept  the  Passage,  that 
Saladin  might  not  pass.  After  Saladin  reigned  his  Son 
Boradin,  and  after  him  his  Nephew.  After  that,  the  Comani- 
ans  that  were  in  Servage  in  Egypt,  feeling  themselves  that 
they  were  of  great  Power,  chose  them  a  Sultan  amongst  them, 
the  which  made  himself  to  be  clept  Melechsalan  :  and  in  his 
Time  entered  into  the  Country  of  the  Kings  of  France,  Saint 
Louis,  and  fought  with  him ;  and  the  Sultan  took  him  and 
imprisoned  him  ;  and  this  Sultan  was  slain  by  his  own  Ser- 
vants. And  after,  they  chose  another  to  be  Sultan,  that  they 
called  Tympieman ;  and  he  let  deliver  Saint  Louis  out  of 
Prison  for  a  certain  Ransom.  And  after,  one  of  these  Coma- 
nians  reigned,  that  was  called  Cachas,  and  slew  Tympieman, 
to  be  Sultan  ;  and  made  himself  be  clept  Melechmenes.  And 
after  was  another  that  had  to  Name  Bendochdare,  that  slew 


20  MANDEVILLE 

r.Iclechmenes  to  be  Sultan,  and  called  himself  Mclechdare. 
In  his  Time  entered  the  good  King  Edward  of  England  into 
Syria,  and  did  great  Harm  to  the  Saracens.  And  after,  was 
this  Sultan  empoisoned  at  Damascus,  and  his  Son  thought  to 
reign  after  him  by  Heritage,  and  made  himself  to  be  clept 
Melechsache ;  but  another  that  had  to  Name  Elphy,  chased 
him  out  of  the  Country  and  made  himself  Sultan.  This  Man 
took  the  City  of  Tripoli  and  destroyed  many  of  the  Christian 
Men,  the  Year  of  Grace  1289,  but  he  was  anon  slain.  After 
that  was  the  Son  of  Elphy  chosen  to  be  Sultan,  and  called 
himself  Melechasseraff,  and  he  took  the  City  of  Acre  and 
chased  out  the  Christian  Men ;  and  this  Sultan  was  also 
empoisoned,  and  then  was  his  Brother  made  Sultan,  and  was 
clept  Melechnasser.  And  after,  one  that  was  clept  Guytoga 
took  him  and  put  him  in  Prison  in  the  Castle  of  Mountroyal, 
and  made  himself  Sultan  by  Strength,  and  called  himself 
jNIelechadel ;  and  he  was  of  Tartary.  But  the  Comanians 
chased  him  out  of  the  Country,  and  did  him  much  Sorrow, 
and  made  one  of  themselves  Sultan,  that  had  to  Name  Lachin. 
And  he  made  himself  to  be  clept  Melechmanser,  the  which  on 
a  Day  played  at  Chess,  and  his  Sword  lay  beside  him  ;  and  so 
it  befell,  that  one  angered  him,  and  with  his  own  proper 
Sword  he  was  slain.  And  after  that,  they  were  at  great  Dis- 
cord, to  make  a  Sultan  ;  and  finally  were  accorded  for  Melech- 
nasser, that  Guytoga  had  put  in  Prison  at  Mountroyal.  And 
this  Sultan  reigned  long  and  governed  wisely,  so  that  his 
eldest  Son  was  chosen  after  him,  Melechmader,  the  which 
his  Brother  caused  to  be  slain  privily  to  have  the  Lordship, 
and  made  himself  to  be  clept  Melechmadabron,  and  he  was 
Sultan  when  I  departed  from  these  Countries.^ 

And  wit  ye  well  that  the  Sultan  may  lead  out  of  Egypt  more 
than  20,000  Men  of  Arms,  and  out  of  Syria,  and  out  of  Turkey 
and  out  of  other  Countries  that  he  holds,  he  may  raise  more 
than  50,000.  And  all  those  be  at  his  Wages,  and  they  be 
always  with  him,  besides  the  Folk  of  his  Country,  that  are 
without  Number.  And  every  one  of  them  hath  by  the  Year 
the  Amount  of  6  Score  Florins ;  but  it  behoveth,  that  every 

^  By  this  we  are  able  to  settle  the  date  of  Sir  John's  leaving  Egypt ;  this 
must  have  been  at  the  end  of  1341,  as  Melechmadabron  reigned  only  six 
months,  and  was  deposed  on  the  nth  January,  1342. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  21 

one  of  them  hold  3  Horses  and  a  Camel.  And  in  the  Cities 
and  in  the  Towns  be  Admirals,  that  have  the  Governance  of 
the  People  ;  one  hath  to  govern  4,  and  another  hath  to  govern 
5,  another  more,  and  another  not  a  few  more.  And  as  much 
Pay  taketh  the  Admiral  to  himself  alone,  as  have  all  the  other 
Soldiers  under  him  ;  and  therefore,  when  the  Sultan  will  advance 
any  worthy  Knight,  he  maketh  him  an  Admiral.  And  when 
there  is  any  Dearth,  the  Knights  be  right  poor,  and  then  they 
sell  both  their  Horses  and  their  Harness. 

And  the  Sultan  hath  4  Wives,  one  Christian  and  3  Sara- 
cens, of  the  which  one  dvvelleth  at  Jerusalem,  and  another  at 
Damascus,  and  another  at  Ascalon ;  and  when  they  list,  they 
remove  to  other  Cities,  and  when  the  Sultan  will  he  may  go 
visit  them.  And  he  hath  as  many  Paramours  as  he  liketh. 
For  he  maketh  to  come  before  him  the  fairest  and  the  noblest 
of  Birth,  and  the  gentlest  Damosels  of  his  Country,  and  he 
maketh  them  to  be  kept  and  served  full  honourably.  And 
when  he  will  have  one  to  lie  with  him,  he  maketh  them  all  to 
come  before  him,  and  he  beholdeth  them  all,  which  of  them 
is  most  to  his  Pleasure,  and  to  her  anon  he  sendeth  or  cast- 
eth  a  Ring  from  his  Finger.  And  then  anon  she  shall  be 
bathed  and  richly  attired,  and  anointed  with  delicate  Things 
of  sweet  Smell,  and  then  led  to  the  Sultan's  Chamber ;  and 
thus  he  doth  as  often  as  he  list,  when  he  will  have  any 
of  them. 

And  before  the  Sultan  cometh  no  Stranger,  but  if  he  be 
clothed  in  Cloth  of  Gold,  or  of  Tartary  or  of  Camaka,  in  the 
Saracens'  Guise,  and  as  the  Saracens  use.  And  it  behoveth, 
that  anon  at  the  first  Sight  that  Men  see  the  Sultan,  be  it  in 
a  Window  or  in  what  Place  else,  that  Men  kneel  to  him  and 
kiss  the  Earth,  for  that  is  the  Manner  to  do  Reverence  to  the 
Sultan  of  them  that  speak  with  him.  And  when  that  Mes- 
sengers of  strange  Countries  come  before  him,  the  People  of 
the  Sultan,  when  the  Strangers  speak  to  him,  be  about  the 
Sultan  with  Swords  drawn  and  Gisarmes^  and  Axes,  their 
Arms  lift  up  on  high  with  the  Weapons  to  smite  upon  them, 
if  they  say  any  Word  that  is  Displeasure  to  the  Sultan.  And 
also,  no  Stranger  cometh   before   him,  but  that  he  maketh 

^  Bills  or  battle-axes. 


22  MANDEVILLE 

him  some  Tromise  and  Grant  if  that  the  Stranger  asketh 
reasonably  ;  if  it  be  so  it  be  not  against  his  Law.  And  so  do 
other  Princes  beyond,  for  they  say  that  no  Man  shall  come 
before  no  Prince,  but  that  he  be  the  better,  and  shall  be  more 
gladder  in  departing  from  his  Presence  than  he  was  at  the 
coming  before  him. 

And  understand  ye,  that  that  Babylon  that  I  have  spoken 
of,  where  that  the  Sultan  dwelleth,  is  not  that  great  Babylon 
where  the  Diversity  of  Language  was  first  made  for  Ven- 
geance by  the  Miracle  of  God,  when  the  great  Tower  of 
Babel  was  begun  to  be  made  ;  of  the  which  the  Walls  were 
64  Furlongs  of  Height  ;  that  is  in  the  great  Desert  of  Arabia, 
upon  the  Way  as  Men  go  toward  the  Kingdom  of  Chaldea. 
But  it  is  full  long  since  that  any  Man  durst  nigh  to  the 
Tower  ;  for  it  is  all  deserted  and  full  of  Dragons  and  great 
Serpents,  and  full  of  diverse  venomous  Beasts  all  about. 
That  Tower,  with  the  City,  was  of  25  Mile  in  Circuit  of  the 
Walls,  as  they  of  the  Country  say,  and  as  Men  may  deem  by 
Estimation,  from  what  Men  tell  of  the  Country. 

And  though  it  be  clept  the  Tower  of  Babylon,  yet  never- 
theless there  were  ordained  within  many  Mansions  and  many 
great  Dwelling-places,  in  Length  and  Breadth.  And  that 
Tower  contained  great  Country  in  its  Circuit,  for  the  Tower 
alone  contained  10  Mile  square.  That  Tower  founded  King 
Nimrod  that  was  King  of  that  Country  ;  and  he  was  first 
King  of  the  World.  And  he  had  made  an  Image  in  the 
Likeness  of  his  Father,  and  constrained  all  his  Subjects  to 
worship  it ;  and  anon  began  other  Lords  to  do  the  same,  and 
so  began  first  the  Idols  and  Simulacres. 

The  Town  and  the  City  were  full  well  set  in  a  fair  Country 
and  a  Plain  that  Men  call  the  Country  of  Samar,  of  the  which 
the  Walls  of  the  City  were  200  Cubits  in  Height,  and  50 
Cubits  in  Breadth  ;  and  the  River  of  Euphrates  ran  through- 
out the  City  and  about  the  Tower  also.  But  Cyrus  the  King 
of  Persia  took  from  them  the  River,  and  destroyed  all  the 
City  and  the  Tower  also  ;  for  he  parted  that  River  into  60 
small  Rivers,  because  that  he  had  sworn,  that  he  should  put 
the  River  in  such  point,  that  a  Woman  might  well  pass  there, 
without  casting  off  of  her  Clothes,  forasmuch  as  he  had  lost 
many  worthy  Men  that  trowed  to  pass  that  River  by  swimming. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  23 

And  from  Babylon  where  the  Sultan  dwelleth,  to  go  right 
between  the  Orient  (East)  and  the  Septentrion  (North) 
toward  the  great  Babylon,  is  a  40  Days'  Journey  to  pass  by 
Desert.  But  the  great  Babylon  is  not  in  the  Land  and  in 
the  Power  of  the  said  Sultan,  but  is  in  the  Power  and  the 
Lordship  of  Persia,  and  is  held  of  the  great  Chan,  that  is  the 
greatest  Emperor  and  the  most  Sovereign  Lord  of  the  Parts 
beyond,  and  is  Lord  of  the  Isles  of  Cathay  and  of  many 
other  Isles  and  of  a  great  Part  of  Ind,  and  his  Land  marcheth 
with  Prester  John's  Land,  and  he  holdeth  so  much  Land, 
that  he  knoweth  not  the  End  :  and  he  is  more  mighty  and  a 
greater  Lord  without  Comparison  than  is  the  Sultan  :  of  his 
royal  Estate  and  of  his  Might  I  shall  speak  more  fully,  when 
I  shall  speak  of  the  Land  and  of  the  Country  of  Ind. 

Also  the  City  of  Mecca  where  Mohammet  licth  is  in  the 
great  Deserts  of  Arabia  ;  and  there  lieth  his  Body  full  honour- 
ably in  their  Temple,  that  the  Saracens  call  Mosque.  And 
it  is  from  Babylon  the  Less,  where  the  Sultan  dwelleth,  unto 
Mecca  above-said,  near  a  32  Days'  Journey. 

And  wit  well,  that  the  Realm  of  Arabia  is  a  full  great 
Country,  but  therein  is  over-much  Desert.  And  no  Man 
may  dwell  there  in  that  Desert  for  Default  of  Water,  for  that 
Land  is  all  gravelly  and  full  of  Sand.  And  it  is  dry  and  in 
no  way  fruitful,  because  it  hath  no  Moisture  ;  and  therefore 
is  there  so  much  Desert.  And  if  it  had  Rivers  and  Wells, 
and  the  Land  also  were  as  it  is  in  other  Parts,  it  should  be 
as  full  of  People  and  as  full  inhabited  with  Folk  as  in  other 
Places ;  for  there  is  full  great  Multitude  of  People,  where  the 
Land  is  inhabited.  Arabia  endureth  from  the  Ends  of  the 
Realm  of  Chaldea  unto  the  last  End  of  Africa,  and  marcheth 
with  the  land  of  Idumea  toward  the  End  of  Botron  (Bozra). 
And  in  Chaldea  the  chief  City  is  Bagdad.  And  of  Africa  the 
chief  City  is  Carthage,  that  Dido,  that  was  Eneas's  Wife, 
founded  ;  the  which  Eneas  was  of  the  City  of  Troy,  and  after 
was  King  of  Italy. 

Mesopotamia  stretcheth  also  unto  the  Deserts  of  Arabia, 
and  it  is  a  great  Country.  In  this  Country  is  the  city  of 
Haran,  where  Abraham's  Father  dwelled,  and  from  whence 
Abraham  departed  by  Commandment  of  the  Angel,  And  of 
that  City  was  Ephraim,  that  was  a  great  Clerk  and  a  great 


24  MAN  DEVI  LLE 

Doctor.  And  Theophilus  was  of  that  City  also,  that  our  Lady 
saved  from  our  Enemy.^  And  Mesopotamia  endureth  from 
the  River  of  Euphrates,  unto  the  River  of  Tigris,  for  it  is  be- 
tween those  two  Rivers. 

And  beyond  the  River  of  Tigris  is  Chaldea,  that  is  a  full 
great  Kingdom.  In  that  Realm,  at  Bagdad  above-said,  was 
wont  to  dwell  the  Caliph,  that  was  wont  to  be  both  Emperor 
and  Pope  of  the  Arabians,  so  that  he  was  Lord  Spiritual  and 
Temporal ;  and  he  was  Successor  to  Mahommet,  and  of  his 
Lineage.  That  City  of  Bagdad  was  wont  to  be  clept  Susa, 
and  Nebuchadnezzar  founded  it ;  and  there  dwelled  the  holy 
Prophet  Daniel,  and  there  he  saw  Visions  of  Heaven,  and 
there  he  made  the  Exposition  of  Dreams. ^ 

And  in  old  Time  there  were  wont  to  be  3  Caliphs,  and  they 
dwelled  in  the  City  of  Bagdad  above-said. 

And  at  Cairo  beside  Babylon  dwelled  the  Caliph  of  Egypt ; 
and  at  Morocco,  upon  the  West  Sea,  dwelled  the  Caliph  of 
the  People  of  Barbary  and  of  the  Africans.  And  now  are 
there  none  of  the  Caliphs,  nor  nought  have  been  since  the 
Time  of  the  Sultan  Saladin ;  for  from  that  Time  hither  the 
Sultan  calleth  himself  Caliph,  and  so  have  the  Caliphs  lost 
their  Name. 

And  wit  well,  that  Babylon  the  Less,  where  the  Sultan 
dwclleth,  and  at  the  City  of  Cairo  that  is  nigh  beside  it,  be 
great  huge  Cities  many  and  fair ;  and  the  one  sits  nigh  the 
other.  Babylon  sits  upon  the  River  of  Gyson,  sometimes 
clept  Nile,  that  cometh  out  of  Terrestrial  Paradise. 

That  River  of  Nile,  all  the  Year,  when  the  Sun  entereth 
into  the  Sign  of  Cancer,  beginneth  to  wax,  and  it  waxeth  al- 
ways, as  long  as  the  Sun  is  in  Cancer  and  in  the  Sign  of  the 
Lion  ;  and  it  waxeth  in  such  Manner,  that  it  is  sometimes  so 
great,  that  it  is  20  Cubits  or  more  of  Deepness,  and  then  it 
doth  great  Harm  to  the  Goods  that  be  upon  the  Land.  For 
then  may  no  Man  travail  to  plough  the  Lands  for  the  great 
Moisture,  and  therefore  is  there  dear  Time  in  that  Country. 
And  also,  when  it  waxeth  but  little,  it  is  dear  Time  in  that 
Country,  for  Default  of  Moisture.     And  when  the  Sun  is  in 

^  Theophilus  sold  himself  to  the  Devil,  and,  repenting,  was  saved  by  the 
Virgin  Mary  :  a  legend  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
2  A  spurious  book,  popular  in  those  times- 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  25 

the  Sign  of  Virgo,  then  beginneth  the  River  to  wane  and  to 
decrease  Kttle  by  little,  so  that  when  the  Sun  is  entered  into 
the  Sign  of  Libra,  then  Men  enter  between  these  Rivers 
that  are  made.  This  River  cometh,  running  from  Terrestrial 
Paradise,  between  the  Deserts  of  Ind,  and  after  it  smiteth 
into  the  Land,  and  runneth  long  time  through  many  great 
Countries  under  Earth.  And  after  it  goeth  out  under  an  high 
Hill,  that  Men  call  Alothe,  that  is  between  Ind  and  Ethiopia 
the  distance  of  5  Months'  Journeys  from  the  Entry  of  Ethio- 
pia ;  and  after  it  environeth  all  Ethiopia  and  Mauritania,  and 
goeth  all  along  from  the  Land  of  Egypt  unto  the  CTty  of 
Alexandria  to  the  End  of  Egypt,  and  there  it  falleth  into  the 
Sea.  About  this  River  be  many  Birds  and  Fowls,  as  Sikonies, 
that  they  call  Ibes. 

Egypt  is  a  long  Country,  but  it  is  strait,  that  is  to  say 
narrow,  for  they  may  not  enlarge  it  toward  the  Desert  for 
Default  of  Water.  And  the  Country  is  set  along  upon  the 
River  Nile,  so  that  that  River  may  serve  by  Floods  or  other- 
wise, that  when  it  floweth  it  may  spread  abroad  through  the 
Country  ;  so  is  the  Country  large  of  Length.  For  it  raineth 
not  but  little  in  that  Country,  and  for  that  Cause  they  have 
no  Water,  but  if  it  be  of  the  Flood  of  that  River.  And  foras- 
much as  it  raineth  not  in  that  Country,  but  the  Air  is  always 
pure  and  clear,  therefore  in  that  Country  be  the  good  Astron- 
omers, for  they  find  there  no  Clouds  to  hinder  them.  Also 
the  City  of  Cairo  is  right  great  and  more  huge  than  that  of 
Babylon  the  Less,  and  it  sits  above  toward  the  Desert  of 
Syria,  a  little  above  the  River  above-said. 

In  Egypt  there  be  2  Parts :  the  Upper,  that  is  toward 
Ethiopia,  and  the  Lower,  that  is  toward  Arabia.  In  Egypt  is 
the  Land  of  Rameses  and  the  Land  of  Goshen.  Egypt  is  a 
strong  Country,  for  it  hath  many  bad  Havens  because  of  the 
great  Rocks  that  be  strong  and  dangerous  to  pass  by.  And 
in  Egypt,  toward  the  East,  is  the  Red  Sea,  that  endureth 
unto  the  City  of  Coston  ;  and  toward  the  West  is  the  Country 
of  Lybia,  that  is  a  full  dry  Land  and  little  of  Fruit,  for  there 
is  overmuch  plenty  of  Heat,  and  that  Land  is  called  Fusthe. 
And  toward  the  Meridional  (South)  Part  is  Ethiopia.  And 
toward  the  North  is  the  Desert,  that  endureth  unto  Syria, 
and  so  is  the  Country  strong  on  all  Sides.     And  it  is  well  a 


26  MANDEVILLE 

15  Days'  Journey  of  Length,  and  more  than  twice  so  much 
of  Desert,  and  it  is  but  a  2  Days'  Journey  in  Width.  And 
between  Egypt  and  Nubia  it  hath  well  12  Days'  Journeys  of 
Desert.  And  the  Men  of  Nubia  be  Christians,  but  they  be 
black  as  the  Moors  for  the  great  Heat  of  the  Sun. 

In  Egypt  there  be  5  Provinces  :  that  one  is  called  Sahythe  ; 
that  other  Demeseer ;  another  Resith,  that  is  an  Isle  in  the 
Nile ;  another  Alexandria ;  and  another  the  Land  of  Dami- 
etta.  That  City  of  Damietta  was  wont  to  be  right  strong, 
but  it  was  twice  won  of  the  Christian  Men,  and  therefore 
after  that  the  Saracens  beat  down  the  Walls  ;  and  with  the 
Walls  and  the  Tower  thereof,  the  Saracens  made  another 
City  more  far  from  the  Sea,  and  called  it  the  new  Damietta ; 
so  that  now  no  Man  dwelleth  at  the  former  Town  of  Damietta. 
And  that  City  of  Damietta  is  one  of  the  Havens  of  Egypt ; 
and  at  Alexandria  is  the  other.  That  is  a  full  strong  City, 
but  there  is  no  Water  to  drink,  but  if  it  come  by  Conduit 
from  the  Nile,  that  entereth  into  their  Cisterns ;  and  if  any 
one  stopped  that  Water  from  them,  they  might  not  endure 
there.  In  Egypt  there  be  but  few  Forts  or  Castles,  because 
that  the  Country  is  so  strong  of  himself. 

At  the  Deserts  of  Egypt  was  a  worthy  Man,  that  was  an 
holy  Hermit,  and  there  met  with  him  a  Monster  (that  is  to 
say,  a  Monster  is  a  Thing  deformed  against  Kind  both  of 
Man  or  of  Beast  or  of  anything  else,  and  that  is  clept  a 
Monster).  And  this  Monster,  that  met  with  this  holy  Her- 
mit, was  as  it  had  been  a  Man,  that  had  2  trenchant  Horns 
on  his  Forehead  ;  and  he  had  a  Body  like  a  Man  unto  the 
Navel,  and  beneath  he  had  a  Body  like  a  Goat.  And  the 
Hermit  asked  him  what  he  was.  And  the  Monster  answered 
him,  and  said  he  was  a  deadly  Creature,  such  as  God  had 
formed,  and  dwelled  in  those  Deserts  in  purchasing  his  Sus- 
tenance. And  he  besought  the  Hermit,  that  he  would  pray 
God  for  him,  the  Which  came  from  Heaven  to  save  all  Man- 
kind, and  was  born  of  a  Maiden  and  suffered  Passion  and 
Death  (as  we  well  know)  and  by  Whom  we  live  and  be.  And 
the  Head  with  the  2  Horns  of  that  Monster  is  yet  at  Alex- 
andria for  a  Marvel. 

In  Egypt  is  the  City  of  Heliopolis,  that  is  to  say,  the  City 
of   the  Sun.     In  that  City  there  is  a  Temple,  made  round 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  2/ 

after  the  Shape  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem.  The  Priests  of 
that  Temple  have  all  their  Writings,  under  the  Date  of  the 
Fowl  that  is  clept  Phoenix ;  and  there  is  but  one  in  all  the 
World.  And  he  cometh  to  burn  himself  upon  the  Altar  of 
the  Temple  at  the  end  of  500  Year ;  for  so  long  he  liveth. 
And  at  the  500  Years'  End,  the  Priests  array  their  Altar 
nobly,  and  put  thereupon  Spices  and  live  Sulphur  and  other  ^ 
Things  that  will  burn  lightly ;  and  then  the  Bird  Phoenix 
cometh  and  burneth  himself  to  Ashes.  And  the  first  Day 
next  after,  Men  find  in  the  Ashes  a  Worm  ;  and  the  second 
Day  next  after,  Men  find  a  Bird  alive  and  perfect ;  and  the 
third  Day  next  after,  he  flieth  his  Way.  And  so  there  is  no 
more  Bird  of  that  Kind  in  all  the  World,  but  it  alone,  and 
truly  that  is  a  great  Miracle  of  God.  And  Men  may  well 
liken  that  Bird  unto  God,  because  that  there  is  no  God  but 
one ;  and  also,  that  our  Lord  arose  from  Death  to  Life  the 
third  Day.  This  Bird  Men  see  often-time  flying  in  those 
Countries  ;  and  he  is  not  much  more  big  than  an  Eagle. 
And  he  hath  a  Crest  of  Feathers  upon  his  Head  more  great 
than  the  Peacock  hath  ;  and  his  Neck  is  yellow  after  the 
Colour  of  an  Oriel  that  is  a  fine  shining  Stone ;  and  his  Beak 
is  coloured  blue  as  Azure ;  and  his  Wings  be  of  purple 
Colour,  and  the  Tail  is  yellow  and  red,  cast  in  Streaks  across 
his  Tail.  And  he  is  a  full  fair  Bird  to  look  upon,  against  the 
Sun,  for  he  shineth  full  gloriously  and  nobly. 

Also  in  Egypt  be  Gardens,  that  have  Trees  and  Herbs, 
the  which  bear  Fruits  7  Times  in  the  Year.  And  in  that 
Land  Men  find  many  fair  Emeralds  and  enough ;  and  there- 
fore be  they  more  cheap.  Also  when  it  raineth  once  in  the 
Summer  in  the  Land  of  Egypt,  then  is  all  the  Country  full 
of  great  Mires.  Also  at  Cairo,  that  I  spake  of  before,  sell 
Men  commonly  both  Men  and  Women  of  other  Laws  as  we 
do  here  Beasts  in  the  Market.  And  there  is  a  common 
House  in  that  City  that  is  all  full  of  small  Furnaces,  and 
thither  bring  Women  of  the  Town  their  Eggs  of  Hens,  of 
Geese,  and  of  Ducks  to  be  put  into  those  Furnaces.  And 
they  that  keep  that  House  cover  them  with  Heat  of  Horse 
Dung,  without  Hen,  Goose  or  Duck  or  any  other  Fowl. 
And  at  the  End  of  3  Weeks  or  of  a  Month  they  come  again 
and  take  their  Chickens  and  nourish  them  and  bring  them 


28  MANDEVILLE 

forth,  so  that  all  the  Country  is  full  of  them.  And  so  Men 
do  there  both  Winter  and  Summer. 

Also  in  that  Country  and  in  others  also,  Men  find  long 
Apples  to  sell,  in  their  Season,  and  Men  call  them  Apples 
of  Paradise ;  and  they  be  right  sweet  and  of  good  Savour. 
And  though  ye  cut  them  in  never  so  many  Gobbets  or  Parts, 
overthwart  or  endlong,  evermore  ye  shall  find  in  the  Midst 
the  Figure  of  the  Holy  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesu.  But  they 
will  rot  within  8  Days,  and  for  that  Cause  Men  may  not  carry 
off  the  Apples  to  far  Countries ;  and  they  have  great  Leaves 
of  a  Foot  and  a  half  of  Length,  and  they  be  conformably 
large.  And  Men  find  there  also  the  Tree  of  Adam's  Apples, 
that  have  a  Bite  at  one  of  the  Sides ;  and  there  be  also  Fig 
Trees  that  bear  no  Leaves,  but  Figs  upon  the  small  Branches  ; 
and  Men  call  them  Figs  of  Pharaoh. 

Also  beside  Cairo,  without  that  City,  is  the  Field  where 
Balm  groweth  ;  and  it  cometh  out  on  small  Trees,  that  be 
none  higher  than  a  Man's  Breeks'  Girdle,  and  they  seem  as 
of  Wood  that  is  of  the  Wild  Vine.  And  in  that  Field  be  7 
Wells,  that  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ  made  with  one  of  His  Feet, 
when  He  went  to  play  with  other  Children.  That  Field  is  not 
so  well  closed,  but  that  Men  may  enter  at  their  own  List ; 
but  in  that  Season  that  the  Balm  is  growing,  Men  put  the 
Place  into  good  Keeping,  that  no  Man  dare  be  hardy  enough 
to  enter. 

This  Balm  groweth  in  no  Place,  but  only  there.  And 
though  that  Men  bring  of  the  Plants,  to  plant  in  other  Coun- 
tries, they  grow  well  and  fair  ;  but  they  bring  forth  no  fruitful 
Thing,  and  the  Leaves  of  Balm  fall  not  at  all.  And  Men  cut 
the  Branches  with  a  sharp  Flintstone,  or  with  a  sharp  Bone, 
when  Men  will  go  to  cut  them  ;  for  whoso  would  cut  them 
with  Iron,  it  would  destroy  its  Virtue  and  its  Nature. 

And  the  Saracens  call  the  Word  "  Enonch-balse,"  and  the 
Fruit,  the  which  is  as  Cubebs,  they  call  "Abebissam,"  and 
the  Liquor  that  droppeth  from  the  Branches  they  call  "  Guy- 
balse."  And  Men  make  always  that  Balm  to  be  tilled  by  the 
Christian  Men,  or  else  it  would  not  fructify ;  as  the  Saracens 
say  themselves,  for  it  hath  been  often-time  proved.  Men  say 
also,  that  the  Balm  groweth  in  Ind  the  Greater,  in  that 
Desert  where  the  Trees  of  the  Sun  and  of  the  Moon  spake 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  29 

to  Alexander,  but  I  have  not  seen  it ;  for  I  have  not  been  so 
far  above  upward,  because  that  there  be  too  many  perilous 
Passages. 

And  wit  ye  well,  that  a  Man  ought  to  take  good  Care  in 
buying  Balm,  but  an  if  he  know  it  right  well,  for  he  may 
right  lightly  be  deceived.  For  Men  sell  a  Gum,  that  Men 
call  Turpentine,  instead  of  Balm,  and  they  put  thereto  a  little 
Balm  to  give  good  Odour.  And  some  put  Wax  in  Oil  of  the 
Wood  of  the  Fruit  of  Balm,  and  say  that  it  is  Balm.  And 
some  distil  Cloves  of  Gilofre  ^  and  Spikenard  of  Spain  and 
other  Spices,  that  be  well  smelling ;  and  the  Liquor  that 
goeth  out  thereof  they  call  it  Balm,  and  they  think  that  they 
have  Balm,  and  they  have  none.  For  the  Saracens  counter- 
feit it  by  Subtlety  of  Craft  to  deceive  the  Christian  Men,  as 
I  have  seen  full  many  a  time ;  and  after  them  the  Merchants 
and  the  Apothecaries  counterfeit  it  soon  after,  and  then  it  is 
less  worth,  and  a  great  deal  worse. 

But  if  it  like  you,  I  shall  show  how  ye  shall  know  and 
prove  it,  to  the  End  that  ye  shall  not  be  deceived.  First  ye 
shall  well  know,  that  the  natural  Balm  is  full  clear,  and  of 
citron  Colour  and  strong  smelling ;  and  if  it  be  thick,  or  red 
or  black,  it  is  sophisticated,  that  is  to  say,  counterfeited  and 
made  like  it  for  Deceit.  And  understand,  that  if  ye  will  put 
a  little  Balm  in  the  Palm  of  your  Hand  against  the  Sun,  if  it 
be  fine  and  good,  ye  shall  not  be  able  to  suffer  the  Heat  of 
the  Sun  against  your  Hand.  Also  take  a  little  Balm  with 
the  Point  of  a  Knife,  and  touch  it  to  the  Fire,  and  if  it  burn 
it  is  a  good  Sign.  After  take  also  a  Drop  of  Balm,  and  put 
it  into  a  Dish,  or  in  a  Cup  with  Milk  of  a  Goat,  and  if  it  be 
natural  Balm  anon  it  will  take  and  curdle  the  Milk.  Or  put 
a  Drop  of  Balm  in  clear  Water  in  a  Cup  of  Silver  or  in  a 
clear  Basin,  and  stir  it  well  with  the  clear  Water ;  and  if  the 
Balm  be  fine  and  of  his  own  Kind,  the  Water  shall  never 
trouble ;  and  if  the  Balm  be  sophisticated,  that  is  to  say 
counterfeited,  the  Water  shall  become  anon  troubled ;  and 
also  if  the  Balm  be  fine  it  shall  fall  to  the  Bottom  of  the 
Vessel,  as  though  it  were  Quicksilver,  for  the  fine  Balm  is 
more  heavy  twice  than  is  the  Balm  that  is  sophisticated  and 
counterfeited.     Now  I  have  spoken  of  Balm. 

1  A  kind  of  clove. 


30  MANDEVILLE 

And  now  I  shall  speak  of  another  Thing  that  is  beyond 
Babylon,  above  the  Flood  of  the  Nile,  toward  the  Desert 
between  Africa  and  Egypt ;  that  is  to  say  of  the  Granaries 
of  Joseph,  that  he  had  made,  to  keep  the  Grains  for  the  Peril 
of  the  dear  Years.  And  they  be  made  of  Stone,  full  well 
made  of  Masons'  Craft ;  of  the  which  2  be  marvellously  great 
and  high,  and  the  tothers  be  not  so  great.  And  every  Gran- 
ary hath  a  Gate  to  enter  within,  a  little  high  from  the  Earth ; 
for  the  Land  is  wasted  and  fallen  since  the  Granaries  were 
made.  And  within  they  be  all  full  of  Serpents.  And  above 
the  Granaries  without  be  many  Scriptures  of  diverse  Lan- 
guages. And  some  Men  say,  that  they  be  Sepultures  of 
great  Lords,  that  were  some-time,  but  that  is  not  true,  for  all 
the  common  Rumour  and  Speech  of  all  the  People  there,  both 
far  and  near,  is  that  they  be  the  Granaries  of  Joseph  ;  and 
so  find  they  in  their  Scriptures,  and  in  their  Chronicles.  On 
the  other  Hand,  if  they  were  Sepultures,  they  would  not  be 
void  within  ;  for  ye  may  well  know,  that  Tombs  and  Sepul- 
tures be  neither  made  of  such  Greatness,  nor  of  such  High- 
ness ;  wherefore  it  is  not  to  be  believed,  that  they  be  Tombs 
or  Sepultures. 

In  Egypt  also  there  be  diverse  Languages  and  diverse 
Letters,  and  of  other  Manner  and  Condition  than  there  be  in 
other  Parts.  As  I  shall  advise  you,  such  as  they  be,  and  the 
Names  how  they  call  them,  to  such  Intent,  that  ye  may  know 
the  Difference  of  them  and  of  others,  —  Athoimis,  Bunchi, 
Chinok,  Durain,  Eni,  Fin,  Gomor,  Hecket,  Janny,  Karacta, 
Luzanim,  Miche,  Naryn,  Oldache,  Pilon,  Ouyn,  Yron,  Sichen, 
Thola,  Urmron,  Yph  and  Zarm,  Thoit  (6). 

Now  I  will  return  again,  ere  I  proceed  any  further,  to  declare 
to  you  the  other  Ways,  that  draw  toward  Babylon,  where  the 
Sultan  himself  dwelleth,  that  is  at  the  Entry  of  Egypt ;  for  as 
much  as  many  Folk  go  thither  first  and  after  that  to  Jerusalem, 
as  I  have  said  to  you  here  before.  For  they  fulfil  first  the 
more  long  Pilgrimage,  and  after  return  again  by  the  nearest 
Ways,  because  that  the  more  nigh  Way  is  the  more  worthy, 
and  that  is  Jerusalem  ;  for  no  other  Pilgrimage  is  like  in  Com- 
parison to  it.  But  to  fulfil  their  Pilgrimages  more  easily  and 
more  securely,  Men  go  first  by  the  longer  Way. 

But  whoso  will  go  to  Babylon  by  another  Way,  more  short 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  3 1 

from  the  Countries  of  the  West  that  I  have  rehearsed  before, 
or  from  other  Countries  next  to  them  —  then  Men  go  by 
France,  by  Burgundy  and  by  Lombardy.  It  needeth  not  to 
tell  you  the  Names  of  the  Cities,  nor  of  the  Towns  that  be  in 
that  Way,  for  the  Way  is  common,  and  it  is  known  of  many 
Nations.  And  there  be  many  Havens  where  Men  take  the 
Sea.  Some  Men  take  the  Sea  at  Genoa,  some  at  Venice,  and 
pass  by  the  Sea  Adriatic,  that  is  clept  the  Gulf  of  Venice, 
that  parteth  Italy  and  Greece  on  that  side ;  and  some  go  to 
Naples,  some  to  Rome,  and  from  Rome  to  Brindisi  and  there 
they  take  the  Sea,  and  in  many  other  Places  where  that  Havens 
be.  And  Men  go  by  Tuscany,  by  Campania,  by  Calabria,  by 
Apulia,  and  by  the  Hills  of  Italy,  by  Corsica,  by  Sardinia,  and 
by  Sicily,  that  is  a  great  Isle  and  a  good. 

In  that  Isle  of  Sicily  there  is  a  manner  of  a  Garden,  in  the 
which  be  many  diverse  Fruits  ;  and  the  Garden  is  always  green 
and  flourishing,  all  the  Seasons  of  the  Year  as  well  in  Winter 
as  in  Summer.  That  Isle  holds  in  Compass  about  350  French 
Miles.  And  between  Sicily  and  Italy  there  is  but  a  little  Arm 
of  the  Sea,  that  Men  call  the  Faro  of  Messina.  And  Sicily  is 
between  the  Sea  Adriatic  and  the  Sea  of  Lombardy.  And 
from  Sicily  into  Calabria  is  but  8  Mile  of  Lombardy. 

And  in  Sicily  there  is  a  kind  of  Serpent,  by  the  which  Men 
assay  and  prove,  whether  their  Children  be  Bastards  or  not, 
or  of  lawful  Marriage :  for  if  they  be  born  in  right  Marriage, 
the  Serpents  go  about  them,  and  do  them  no  Harm,  and  if  they 
be  born  in  Adultery,  the  Serpents  bite  them  and  envenom 
them.  And  thus  many  wedded  Men  prove  if  their  Children  be 
their  own. 

Also  in  that  Isle  is  the  Mount  Etna,  that  Men  call  Mount 
Gybelle,  and  the  Volcanoes  that  be  evermore  burning.  And 
there  be  7  Places  that  burn  and  cast  out  diverse  Flames  of 
diverse  Colour  :  and  by  the  changing  of  those  Flames,  Men  of 
that  Country  know  when  it  shall  be  Dearth  or  good  Time,  or 
cold  or  hot  or  moist  or  dry,  or  in  all  other  Manners  how  the 
Time  shall  be  governed.  And  from  Italy  unto  the  Volcanoes 
is  but  25  Mile.  And  Men  say,  that  the  Volcanoes  be  Ways 
to  Hell. 

And  whoso  goeth  by  Pisa,  if  that  Men  list  to  go  that  Way, 
there  is  an  Arm  of  the  Sea,  where  that  Men  go  to  other 


32  MANDEVILLE 

Havens  in  those  Coasts,  and  then  Men  pass  by  the  Isle  of 
Greaf  (Corfu  ?  )  that  is  at  Genoa.  And  after  Men  arrive  in 
Greece  at  the  Haven  of  the  City  of  Myrok,  or  at  the  Haven  of 
Valone,  or  at  the  City  of  Duras  ;  and  there  is  a  Duke  at  Duras, 
or  at  other  Havens  in  those  Coasts ;  and  so  Men  go  to  Con- 
stantinople. And  after  Men  go  by  Water  to  the  Isle  of  Crete 
and  to  the  Isle  of  Rhodes,  and  so  to  Cyprus,  and  so  to  Athens, 
and  from  thence  to  Constantinople. 

To  hold  the  more  straight  Way  by  Sea,  it  is  well  1880  Mile 
of  Lombardy.  And  after  from  Cyprus  Men  go  by  Sea,  and 
leave  Jerusalem  and  all  the  Country  on  the  left  Hand,  unto 
Egypt,  and  arrive  at  the  City  of  Damietta,  that  was  wont  to 
be  full  strong,  and  it  sits  at  the  Entry  of  Egypt.  And  from 
Damietta  go  Men  to  the  City  of  Alexandria,  that  sits  also 
upon  the  Sea.  In  that  City  was  Saint  Catherine  beheaded  : 
and  there  was  Saint  Mark  the  Evangelist  martyred  and  buried, 
but  the  Emperor  Leo  made  his  Bones  to  be  brought  to  Venice. 

And  there  is  yet  at  Alexandria  a  fair  Church,  all  white  with- 
out Paintings  ;  and  so  be  all  the  other  Churches  that  were  of 
the  Christian  Men,  all  white  within,  for  the  Paynims  and  the 
Saracens  made  them  white  to  do  away  with  the  Images  of 
Saints  that  were  painted  on  the  Walls.  That  City  of  Alex- 
andria is  well  30  Furlongs  in  Length,  but  it  is  but  10  in 
Breadth  ;  and  it  is  a  full  noble  City  and  a  fair.  At  that  City 
entereth  the  River  Nile  into  the  Sea,  as  I  to  you  have  said 
before.  In  that  River  Men  find  many  precious  Stones,  and 
much  also  of  Lignum  Aloes  ;  and  it  is  a  manner  of  Wood,  that 
Cometh  out  of  Terrestrial  Paradise,  the  which  is  good  for  many 
diverse  Medicines,  and  it  is  right  costly.  And  from  Alexandria 
men  go  to  Babylon,  where  the  Sultan  dwelleth  ;  that  sits  also 
upon  the  River  Nile  :  and  this  Way  is  the  most  short,  to  go 
straight  unto  Babylon. 

Now  shall  I  say  to  you  also  the  Way,  that  goeth  from 
Babylon  to  the  Mount  of  Sinai,  where  Saint  Catherine  lieth. 
Ye  must  pass  by  the  Deserts  of  Arabia,  by  the  which  Deserts 
Moses  led  the  People  of  Israel.  And  then  pass  Men  by  the 
Well  that  Moses  made  with  his  Hand  in  the  Deserts,  when 
the  People  grumbled  ;  for  they  found  nothing  to  drink.  And 
then  pass  Men  by  the  Well  of  Marah,  of  the  which  the  Water 
was  at  first  bitter ;  but  the  Children  of  Israel  put  therein  a 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  33 

Tree,  and  anon  the  Water  was  sweet  and  good  to  drink.  And 
then  go  Men  by  Desert  unto  the  Vale  of  Elim,  in  the  which 
Vale  be  12  Wells;  and  there  be  72  Trees  of  Palm,  that  bear 
the  Dates  the  which  Moses  found  with  the  Children  of  Israel. 
And  from  that  Valley  is  but  a  good  Days'  Journey  to  the 
Mount  of  Sinai. 

And  whoso  will  go  by  another  Way  from  Babylon,  then 
go  by  the  Red  Sea,  that  is  an  Arm  of  the  Sea-Ocean.  And 
there  passed  Moses  with  the  Children  of  Israel,  overthwart 
the  Sea  all  dry,  when  Pharaoh  the  King  of  Egypt  chased 
them.  And  that  Sea  is  well  a  6  Mile  of  Largeness  in 
Breadth  ;  and  in  that  Sea  was  Pharaoh  drowned  and  all  his 
Host  that  he  led.  That  Sea  is  not  more  red  than  another 
Sea ;  but  in  some  Place  thereof  is  the  Gravel  red,  and  there- 
fore Men  call  it  the  Red  Sea.  That  Sea  runneth  to  the  Ends 
of  Arabia  and  of  Palestine. 

That  Sea  lasteth  more  than  a  4  Days'  Journey,  and  then 
go  Men  by  Desert  unto  the  Vale  of  Elim,  and  from  thence 
to  the  Mount  of  Sinai.  And  ye  may  well  understand,  that 
by  this  Desert  no  Man  may  go  on  Horseback,  because  that 
there  is  neither  Meat  for  Horse  nor  Water  to  drink  ;  and  for 
that  Cause  Men  pass  that  Desert  with  Camels.  Eor  the 
Camel  finds  always  Meat  in  Trees  and  on  Bushes,  that  he 
feedeth  him  with  :  and  he  may  well  fast  from  Drink  2  days 
or  3.     And  that  may  no  Horse  do. 

And  wit  well,  that  from  Babylon  to  the  Mount  Sinai  is 
well  a  good  12  Days'  Journey,  and  some  Men  make  them 
more.  And  some  Men  hasten  and  pain  themselves,  and  so 
they  make  them  less.  And  always  Men  find  Latiners  or 
Dragomen  to  go  with  them  in  these  Countries,  and  further 
beyond,  until  the  Time  they  know  the  Language :  and  it  be- 
hoveth  Men  to  bear  Victuals  with  them,  that  shall  last  them 
in  those  Deserts,  and  other  Necessaries  to  live  by. 

And  the  Mount  of  Sinai  is  clept  the  Desert  of  Sin,  that  is 
to  say,  the  Bush  burning  ;  because  there  Moses  saw  our  Lord 
God  many  times  in  Form  of  Fire  burning  upon  that  Hill, 
and  also  in  a  Bush  burning,  and  spake  to  Him.  And  that 
was  at  the  Foot  of  the  Hill.  There  is  an  Abbey  of  Monks, 
well  builded  and  well  closed  with  Gates  of  Iron  for  Dread  of 
the  Wild  Beasts ;  and  the  Monks  be  Arabians  or  Men  of 
4 


34  MANDEVILLE 

Greece.  And  there  is  a  great  Convent,  and  they  all  be  as 
Hermits,  and  they  drink  no  Wine,  but  if  it  be  on  principal 
Feasts  ;  and  they  be  full  devout  Men,  and  live  poorly  and 
simply  with  Joutes  ^  and  with  Dates,  and  they  do  great  Ab- 
stinence and  Penance. 

There  is  the  Church  of  Saint  Catherine,  in  the  which  be 
many  Lamps  burning ;  for  they  have  of  Oil  of  Olives  enough, 
both  to  burn  in  their  Lamps  and  to  eat  also.  And  that 
Plenty  have  they  by  the  Miracle  of  God ;  for  the  Ravens  and 
the  Crows  and  the  Choughs  and  other  Fowls  of  the  Country 
y  assemble  them  there  every  Year  once,  and  fly  thither  as  in 

Pilgrimage  ;  and  every  one  of  them  bringeth  a  Branch  of  Bays 
or  of  Olive  in  their  Beaks  instead  of  Offering,  and  leave  them 
there  ;  of  the  which  the  Monks  make  great  Plenty  of  Oil. 
And  this  is  a  great  Marvel.  And  since  that  Fowls  that  have 
no  natural  Wit  or  Reason  go  thither  to  seek  that  glorious 
Virgin,  well  more  ought  Men  then  to  seek  her,  and  to  wor- 
ship her. 

Also  behind  the  Altar  of  that  Church  is  the  Place  where 
Moses  saw  our  Lord  God  in  a  burning  Bush.  And  when  the 
Monks  enter  into  that  Place,  they  doff  both  Hose  and  Shoes 
or  Boots  always,  because  that  our  Lord  said  to  Moses,  "  Do 
off  thy  Hose  and  thy  Shoes,  for  the  Place  that  thou  standest 
on  is  Land  holy  and  blessed."  And  the  Monks  call  that  Place 
Bezaleel,  that  is  to  say,  the  Shadow  of  God.  And  beside 
the  high  Altar,  on  3  Steps  of  Height  is  the  Feretrum  or 
Shrine  of  Alabaster,  where  the  Bones  of  Saint  Catherine  lie. 
And  the  Prelate  of  the  Monks  sheweth  the  Relics  to  the  Pil- 
grims, and  with  an  Instrument  of  Silver  he  fretteth  the  Bones  ; 
and  then  there  goeth  out  a  little  Oil,  as  though  they  were  in 
a  manner  sweating,  that  is  neither  like  to  Oil  nor  to  Balm, 
but  it  is  full  sweet  of  Smell ;  and  of  that  they  give  a  little  to 
the  Pilgrims,  for  there  goeth  out  but  little  Quantity  of  the 
Liquor.  And  after  that  they  shew  the  Head  of  Saint  Cath- 
erine, and  the  Cloth  that  she  was  wrapped  in,  that  is  yet  all 
bloody ;  and  in  that  same  Cloth  so  wrapped,  the  Angels  bare 
her  Body  to  the  Mount  Sinai,  and  there  they  buried  her  with 
it.     And  then  they  shew  the  Bush,  that  burned  and  wasted 

^  An  ancient  dish  in  cookery,  made  probably  of  gourds. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  35 

nought,  in  the  which  our  Lord  spake  to  Moses,  and  other 
Relics  enough. 

Also,  when  the  Prelate  of  the  Abbey  is  dead,  I  have  under- 
stood, by  Information,  that  his  Lamp  quencheth.  And  when 
they  choose  another  Prelate,  if  he  be  a  good  Man  and  worthy 
to  be  Prelate,  his  Lamp  shall  light  with  the  Grace  of  God 
without  touching  of  any  Man.  For  every  one  of  them  hath 
a  Lamp  to  himself,  and  by  their  Lamps  they  know  well  when 
any  of  them  shall  die.  For  when  any  one  shall  die,  the 
Light  beginneth  to  change  and  to  wax  dim  ;  and  if  he  be 
chosen  to  be  Prelate,  and  is  not  worthy,  his  Lamp  quencheth 
anon.  And  other  Men  have  told  me,  that  he  that  singeth  the 
Mass  for  the  Prelate  that  is  dead  —  he  shall  find  upon  the 
Altar  the  Name  written  of  him  that  shall  be  the  Prelate 
chosen.  And  so  upon  a  Day,  I  asked  of  the  Monks,  both  one 
and  other,  how  this  befell.  But  they  would  tell  me  nothing, 
until  the  Time  that  I  said  that  they  should  not  hide  the  Grace 
that  God  did  them,  but  that  they  should  publish  it  to  make 
the  People  have  the  more  Devotion,  and  that  they  did  sin  to 
hide  God's  Miracle,  as  it  seemed  to  me.  For  the  Miracles 
that  God  hath  done  and  yet  doth  every  Day,  be  the  Witness 
of  His  Might  and  of  His  Marvels,  as  David  saith  in  the 
Psalter  :  "  Mirabilia  Testimonia  Tua,  Domine,"  that  is  to  say, 
"  Lord,  Thy  Marvels  be  Thy  Witness."  And  then  they  told 
me,  both  one  and  other,  how  it  so  befell  full  many  a  time,  but 
more  I  might  not  have  of  them. 

In  that  Abbey  entereth  no  Fly,  neither  Toads  nor  Newts, 
nor  such  foul  venomous  Beasts,  neither  Lice  nor  Fleas,  by 
the  Miracle  of  God,  and  of  our  Lady.  For  there  were  wont 
to  be  so  many  such  manner  of  Filths,  that  the  Monks  were 
in  Will  to  leave  the  Place  and  the  Abbey,  and  were  gone  from 
thence  upon  the  Mountain  above  to  eschew  that  Place ;  and 
our  Lady  came  to  them  and  bade  them  turn  again,  and  from 
this  forwards  never  entered  such  Filth  in  that  Place  amongst 
them,  nor  never  shall  enter  hereafter.  Also,  before  the  Gate 
is  the  Well,  where  Moses  smote  the  Stone,  from  the  which 
the  Water  came  out  plenteously. 

From  that  Abbey  Men  go  up  the  Mountain  of  Moses  by 
many  Steps.  And  then  Men  find  first  a  Church  of  our  Lady, 
where  that  she  met  the  Monks,  when  they  fled  away  for  the 


36  MANDEVILLE 

Vermin  above-said.  And  more  high  upon  that  Mountain  is 
the  Chapel  of  Elijah  the  Prophet ;  and  that  Place  they  call 
Horeb,  whereof  Holy  Writ  speaketh,  "  Et  ambulavit  in  For- 
titudine  Cibi  illius  usque,  ad  Montem  Oreb  ; "  that  is  to  say, 
"And  he  went  in  Strength  of  that  Meat  unto  the  Hill  of  God, 
Horeb."  And  then  nigh  is  the  Vine  that  Saint  John  the 
Evangelist  planted  that  Men  call  Raisins  {Staphis  ^).  And  a 
little  above  is  the  Chapel  of  Moses,  and  the  Rock  where 
Moses  fled  to  for  Dread  when  he  saw  our  Lord  face  to  face. 
And  in  that  Rock  is  printed  the  Form  of  his  Body,  for  he 
smote  himself  so  strongly  and  so  hard  into  that  Rock,  that 
all  his  Body  was  bedded  within  through  the  Miracle  of  God. 
And  there  beside  is  the  Place  where  our  Lord  took  to  Moses 
the  lo  Commandments  of  the  Law.  And  there  is  the  Cave 
under  the  Rock  where  Moses  dwelt,  when  he  fasted  40  Days 
and  40  Nights. 

And  from  that  Mountain  Men  pass  a  great  Valley  to  go  to 
another  Mountain,  where  Saint  Catherine  was  buried  by  the 
Angels  of  the  Lord.  And  in  that  Valley  is  a  Church  of  40 
Martyrs,  and  there  sing  the  Monks  of  the  Abbey,  often-time  : 
and  that  Valley  is  right  cold.  And  after  Men  go  up  the 
Mountain  of  Saint  Catherine,  that  is  more  high  than  the 
Mount  of  Moses ;  and  there,  where  Saint  Catherine  was 
buried,  is  neither  Church  nor  Chapel,  nor  other  dwelling 
Place,  but  there  is  an  Heap  of  Stones  about  the  Place,  where 
her  Body  was  put  by  the  Angels.  There  was  wont  to  be  a 
Chapel,  but  it  was  cast  down,  and  the  Stones  lie  there  yet. 
And  albeit  that  the  Collect  of  Saint  Catherine  says,  that  it  is 
the  Place  where  our  Lord  taught  the  10  Commandments  to 
Moses,  and  there,  where  the  blessed  Virgin  Saint  Catherine 
was  buried,  ye  are  to  understand  it  as  being  in  the  same 
Country,  or  in  one  bearing  the  same  Name  ;  for  both  in  one 
Place  and  the  other  is  a  Hill  clept  the  Mount  of  Sinai.  But 
it  is  a  great  Way  from  one  to  the  other,  and  a  great  deep 
Valley  between  them. 

^  Greek  :  o-tu^uXt;,  a  bunch  of  grapes. 


CHAPTER   VI 

Of  the  Desert  beiiveen  the  Church  of  Saint  Catherine  and  Jerusalem. 
Of  the  Dry  Tree  ;  and  how  Roses  came  first  into  the  World 

N'  OW,  after  that  Men  have  visited  those  holy  Places, 
then  will  they  turn  toward  Jerusalem.  And  then  will 
they  take  Leave  of  the  Monks,  and  recommend  them- 
selves to  their  Prayers.  And  then  the  Monks  give  the  Pil- 
grims of  their  Victuals  to  pass  therewith  the  Deserts  toward 
Syria.     And  those  Deserts  last  well  a  13  Days'  Journey. 

In  that  Desert  dwell  many  Arabians,  that  Men  call  Bed- 
ouins and  Ascopards,  and  they  be  Folk  full  of  all  evil  Con- 
ditions. And  they  have  no  Houses,  but  Tents,  that  they 
make  of  Skins  of  Beasts,  as  of  Camels  and  of  other  Beasts 
that  they  eat ;  and  beneath  these  they  couch  them  and  dwell 
in  any  Place  where  they  may  find  Water,  as  on  the  Red  Sea 
or  elsewhere :  for  in  that  Desert  is  full  great  Default  of 
Water,  and  often-time  it  befalleth  that  where  Men  find  Water 
at  one  time  in  a  Place  it  faileth  another  time ;  and  for  that 
reason,  they  make  no  Habitations  there.  These  Folk  that  I 
speak  of,  they  till  not  the  Land,  and  they  labour  nought ;  for 
they  eat  no  Bread,  but  and  if  they  be  any  that  dwell  nigh  a 
good  Town,  that  go  thither  and  eat  Bread  sometimes.  And 
they  roast  their  Flesh  and  their  Fish  upon  hot  Stones  against 
the  Sun.  And  they  be  strong  Men  and  well-fighting ;  and 
there  so  is  much  Multitude  of  that  Folk,  that  they  be  with- 
out Number.  And  they  neither  reck  of  anything,  nor  do 
anything  but  chase  after  Beasts  to  eat  them.  And  they  reck 
nothing  of  their  Lives,  and  therefore  they  fear  not  the  Sul- 
tan, nor  any  other  Prince ;  but  they  dare  well  war  with  them, 
if  they  do  anything  that  is  a  Grievance  to  them.  And  they 
have  often-times  War  with  the  Sultan,  and,  to  wit,  at  that 
Time  that  I  was  with  him.  And  they  bear  but  one  Shield 
and  one  Spear,  without  other  Arms ;  and  they  wrap  their 
Heads  and  their  Necks  with  a  great  Quantity  of  white  linen 

37 


38  MANDEVILLE 

Cloth  ;  and  they  be  right  felonous  and  foul,  and  of  cursed 
Kind. 

And  when  Men  pass  this  Desert,  in  coming  toward  Jerusa- 
lem, they  come  to  Beersheba,  that  was  wont  to  be  a  full  fair 
Town  and  a  delectable  of  Christian  Men  ;  and  there  be  some 
of  their  Churches  there  yet.  In  that  Town  dwelled  Abraham 
the  Patriarch,  a  long  time.  And  that  Town  of  Beersheba 
founded  Bathsheba,  the  Wife  of  Sir  Uriah  the  Knight,  on  the 
which  King  David  begat  Solomon  the  Wise,  that  was  King 
after  David  over  the  12  Kindreds  or  Tribes  of  Jerusalem  and 
reigned  40  Year. 

And  from  thence  go  Men  to  the  City  of  Hebron,  that  is 
the  Amount  distant  of  12  good  Mile.  And  it  was  clept  some- 
time the  Vale  of  Mamre,  and  some-time  it  was  clept  the  Vale 
of  Tears,  because  that  Adam  wept  there  an  100  Year  for  the 
death  of  Abel  his  Son,  that  Cain  slew.  Hebron  was  wont  to 
be  the  principal  City  of  the  Philistines,  and  there  dwelled 
some-time  the  Giants.  And  that  City  was  also  Sacerdotal, 
that  is  to  say.  Sanctuary  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah  ;  and  it  was 
so  free,  that  Men  received  there  all  Manner  of  Fugitives  of 
other  Places  for  their  evil  Deeds.  In  Hebron  Joshua,  Caleb 
and  their  Company  came  first  to  a-spy  how  they  might  win 
the  Land  of  Behest.  In  Hebron  reigned  first  King  David  7 
Year  and  a  half ;  and  in  Jerusalem  he  reigned  33  Year  and 
a  half. 

And  in  Hebron  be  all  the  Sepultures  of  the  Patriarchs, 
Adam,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob  ;  and  of  their  Wives, 
Eve,  Sarah  and  Rebecca  and  of  Leah ;  the  which  Sepultures 
the  Saracens  keep  full  carefully,  and  have  the  Place  in  great 
Reverence  for  the  holy  Fathers,  the  Patriarchs  that  lie  there. 
And  they  suffer  no  Christian  Man  to  enter  into  the  Place, 
but  if  it  be  of  special  Grace  of  the  Sultan ;  for  they  hold 
Christian  Men  and  Jews  as  Dogs,  and  they  say,  that  they 
should  not  enter  into  so  holy  a  Place.  And  Men  call  that 
Place,  where  they  lie.  Double  Spelunk  (Spelunca  Duplex),  or 
Double  Cave,  or  Double  Ditch,  forasmuch  as  one  lieth  above 
another.  And  the  Saracens  call  that  Place  in  their  Language, 
"  Karicarba,"  that  is  to  say,  "The  Place  of  Patriarchs."  And 
the  Jews  call  that  Place  "  Arboth."  And  in  that  same  Place 
was  Abraham's  House,  and  there  he  sat  and  saw  3  Persons, 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  39 

and  worshipped  but  one ;  as  Holy  Writ  saith,  "  Tres  vidit  et 
unum  adoravit,"  that  is  to  say,  "  He  saw  3  and  worshipped 
one : "  and  those  same  were  the  Angels  that  Abraham  re- 
ceived into  his  House, 

And  right  fast  by  that  Place  is  a  Cave  in  the  Rock,  where 
Adam  and  Eve  dwelled  when  they  were  put  out  of  Paradise  ; 
and  there  got  they  their  Children.  And  in  that  same  Place 
was  Adam  formed  and  made,  after  that,  that  some  Men  say 
(for  Men  were  wont  to  call  that  Place  the  Field  of  Damascus, 
because  that  it  was  in  the  Lordship  of  Damascus),  and  from 
thence  was  he  translated  into  the  Paradise  of  Delights,  as 
they  say ;  and  after  he  was  driven  out  of  Paradise  he  was  left 
there.  And  the  same  Day  that  he  was  put  in  Paradise,  the 
same  Day  he  was  put  out,  for  anon  he  sinned.  There  begin- 
neth  the  Vale  of  Hebron,  that  endureth  nigh  to  Jerusalem. 
There  the  Angel  commanded  Adam  that  he  should  dwell  with 
his  Wife  Eve,  of  the  which  he  begat  Seth  ;  of  the  which 
Tribe,  that  is  to  say  Kindred,  Jesu  Christ  was  born. 

In  that  Valley  is  a  Field,  where  Men  draw  out  of  the  Earth  a 
Thing  that  Men  call  Cambile,  and  they  eat  it  instead  of  Spice, 
and  they  bear  it  away  to  sell.  And  Men  may  not  make  the 
Hole  or  the  Cave,  where  it  is  taken  out  of  the  Earth,  so  deep 
or  so  wide,  but  that  it  is,  at  the  Year's  End,  full  again  up  to 
the  Sides,  through  the  Grace  of  God. 

And  2  Mile  from  Hebron  is  the  Grave  of  Lot,  that  was 
Abraham's  Brother, 

And  a  little  from  Hebron  is  the  Mount  of  Mamre,  from 
the  which  the  Valley  taketh  his  Name.  And  there  is  a  Tree 
of  Oak,  that  the  Saracens  call  "Dirpe,"  that  is  of  Abraham's 
Time  :  the  which  Men  call  the  Dry  Tree,  And  they  say  that 
it  hath  been  there  since  the  Beginning  of  the  World,  and  was 
some-time  green  and  bare  Leaves,  unto  the  Time  that  our 
Lord  died  on  the  Cross,  and  then  it  dried  :  and  so  did  all  the 
Trees  that  were  then  in  the  World.  And  some  say,  by  their 
Prophecies,  that  a  Lord,  a  Prince  of  the  West  Side  of  the 
World,  shall  win  the  Land  of  Promise  that  is  the  Holy  Land 
with  Help  of  Christian  Men,  and  he  shall  have  sung  a  Mass 
under  that  dry  Tree ;  and  then  the  Tree  shall  wax  green  and 
bear  both  Fruit  and  Leaves,  and  through  that  Miracle  many 
Saracens  and  Jews  shall  be  turned  to  Christian  Faith :  and, 


40  MANDEVILLE 

therefore,  they  do  great  Worship  thereto,  and  guard  it  full 
busily.  And,  albeit  so,  that  it  be  dry,  nevertheless  yet  it 
beareth  great  Virtue,  for  certainly  he  that  hath  a  little  thereof 
upon  him,  it  healeth  him  of  the  Falling  Evil,  and  his  Horse 
shall  not  be  a-foundered:  and  many  other  Virtues  it  hath, 
wherefore  Men  hold  it  full  precious. 

From  Hebron  Men  go  to  Bethlehem  in  half  a  Day,  for  it  is 
but  5  Mile  ;  and  it  is  a  full  fair  Way,  by  Plains  and  Woods 
full  delectable.  Bethlehem  is  a  little  City,  long  and  narrow 
and  well  walled,  and  on  each  Side  enclosed  with  good  Ditches  : 
and  it  was  wont  to  be  clept  Ephrata,  as  Holy  Writ  saith,  "  Ecce, 
audimus  eum  in  Ephrata,"  that  is  to  say,  "  Lo,  we  heard  it  in 
Ephrata."  And  toward  the  East  End  of  the  City  is  a  full  fair 
Church  and  a  gracious,  and  it  hath  many  Towers,  Pinacles,  and 
Corners,  full  strong  and  curiously  made  ;  and  within  that  Church 
be  44  Pillars  of  Marble,  great  and  fair. 

And  between  the  City  and  the  Church  is  the  Field  "Flori- 
dus,"  that  is  to  say,  the  "Field  Beflowered."  For  a  fair 
Maiden  was  blamed  with  Wrong,  and  slandered  that  she  had 
done  Fornication  ;  for  which  Cause  she  was  condemned  to 
Death,  and  to  be  burnt  in  that  Place,  to  the  which  she  was  led. 
And,  as  the  Fire  began  to  burn  about  her,  she  made  her 
Prayers  to  our  Lord,  that  as  certainly  as  she  was  not  guilty  of 
that  Sin,  that  He  would  help  her  and  make  it  to  be  known  to 
all  Men,  of  His  merciful  Grace.  And  when  she  had  thus  said, 
she  entered  into  the  Fire,  and  anon  was  the  Fire  quenched 
and  out ;  and  the  Brands  that  were  burning  became  red  Rose- 
trees,  and  the  Brands  that  were  not  kindled  became  white 
Rose-trees,  full  of  Roses.  And  these  were  the  first  Rose-trees 
and  Roses,  both  white  and  red,  that  ever  any  Man  saw  ;  and 
thus  was  the  Maiden  saved  by  the  Grace  of  God.  And  there- 
fore is  that  Field  clept  the  Field  of  God  Beflowered,  for  it  was 
full  of  Roses. 

Also  beside  the  Choir  of  the  Church,  at  the  right  Side,  as 
Men  come  downward  i6  Steps,  is  the  Place  where  our  Lord 
was  born,  that  is  full  well  adorned  with  Marble,  and  full  richly 
painted  with  Gold,  Silver,  Azure  and  other  Colours.  And  3 
Paces  beyond  is  the  Crib  of  the  Ox  and  the  Ass.  And  beside 
that  is  the  Place  where  the  Star  fell,  that  led  the  3  Kings, 
Jaspar,  Melchior,  and  Balthazar  (but  Men  of  Greece  call  them 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  4I 

thus,  "Galgalathe,  Malgalathe,  and  Seraphie,"  and  the  Jews 
call  them  in  this  manner,  in  Hebrew,  "  Appelius,  Amerrius, 
and  Damasus  ").  These  3  Kings  offered  to  our  Lord,  Gold, 
Incense,  and  Myrrh,  and  they  met  together  through  Miracle  of 
God  ;  for  they  met  together  in  a  City  in  Ind,  that  Men  call 
Cassak,  that  is  a  53  Days'  Journey  from  Bethlehem  ;  and  they 
were  at  Bethlehem  the  13th  Day;  and  that  was  the  4th  Day 
after  that  they  had  seen  the  Star,  when  they  met  in  that  City, 
and  thus  they  were  in  9  Days  from  that  City  at  Bethlehem, 
and  that  was  a  great  Miracle. 

Also,  under  the  Cloister  of  the  Church,  by  18  Steps  at  the 
right  Side,  is  the  Charnel-house  of  the  Innocents,  where  their 
Bodies  lie.  And  before  the  Place  where  our  Lord  was  born 
is  the  Tomb  of  Saint  Jerome,  that  was  a  Priest  and  a  Cardinal 
that  translated  the  Bible  and  the  Psalter  from  Hebrew  into 
Latin ;  and  without  the  Minster  is  the  Chair  that  he  sat  in 
when  he  translated  it.  And  fast  beside  that  Church,  at  60 
Fathom,  is  a  Church  of  Saint  Nicholas,  where  our  Lady  rested 
her  after  she  was  delivered  of  our  Lord  ;  and  forasmuch  as  she 
had  too  much  Milk  in  her  Paps,  that  grieved  her,  she  milked 
them  on  the  red  Stones  of  Marble,  so  that  the  Traces  may  yet 
be  seen,  in  the  Stones,  all  white. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  all  that  dwell  in  Bethlehem 
be  Christian  Men. 

And  there  be  fair  Vines  about  the  City,  and  great  plenty  of 
Wine,  that  the  Christian  Men  have  made.  But  the  Saracens 
till  not  the  Vines,  neither  drink  they  any  Wine :  for  their 
Books  of  their  Law,  that  Mohammet  gave  them,  which  they 
call  their  "Al  Koran"  (and  some  call  it  "Mesaph,"  and  in 
another  language  it  is  clept  "Harme"),  —  the  same  Book  for- 
biddeth  them  to  drink  Wine.  For  in  that  Book,  Mohammet 
cursed  all  those  that  drink  Wine  and  all  them  that  sell  it :  for 
some  Men  say,  that  he  slew  once  an  Hermit  in  his  Drunken- 
ness, that  he  loved  full  well;  and  therefore  he  cursed  Wine 
and  them  that  drink  it.  But  his  Curse  be  turned  on  to  his 
own  Head,  as  Holy  Writ  saith,  "  Et  in  verticem  ipsius  iniquitas 
ejus  descendet,"  that  is  to  say,  "  His  Wickedness  shall  turn 
and  fall  on  to  his  own  Head." 

And  also  the  Saracens  breed  no  Pigs,  nor  eat  they  any 
Swine's  Flesh,  for  they  say  it  is  Brother  to  Man,  and  it  was 


42  MANDEVILLE 

forbidden  by  the  old  Law ;  and  they  hold  him  accursed  that 
eateth  thereof.  Also  in  the  Land  of  Palestine  and  in  the 
Land  of  Egypt,  they  eat  but  little  or  none  of  Flesh  of  Veal  or 
of  Beef,  but  if  the  Beast  be  so  old,  that  he  may  no  more  work 
for  old  Age ;  for  it  is  forbidden,  because  they  have  but  few  of 
them  ;  therefore  they  nourish  them  to  till  their  Lands. 

In  this  City  of  Bethlehem  was  David  the  King  born ;  and 
he  had  60  Wives,  and  the  first  Wife  was  called  Michal ;  and 
also  he  had  300  Lemans. 

And  from  Bethlehem  unto  Jerusalem  is  but  2  Mile ;  and  in 
the  Way  to  Jerusalem  half  a  Mile  from  Bethlehem  is  a  Church, 
where  the  Angel  said  to  the  Shepherds  of  the  Birth  of  Christ. 
And  in  that  Way  is  the  Tomb  of  Rachel,  that  was  the  Mother 
of  Joseph,  the  Patriarch  ;  and  she  died  anon  after  that  she  was 
delivered  of  her  Son  Benjamin.  And  there  she  was  buried  by 
Jacob  her  Husband,  and  he  made  set  12  great  Stones  on  her, 
in  Token  that  she  had  born  12  Children.^  In  the  same  Way, 
half  a  Mile  from  Jerusalem,  appeared  the  Star  to  the  3  Kings. 
In  that  Way  also  be  many  Churches  of  Christian  Men,  by  the 
which  Men  go  towards  the  City  of  Jerusalem. 

1  Rachel  had  twelve  grandchildren. 


CHAPTER   VII 

Of  the  Fi/gt  images  in  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Holy  Places  thereabout 

AFTER,  to  speak  of  Jerusalem  the  Holy  City.  Ye  shall 
understand,  that  it  stands  full  fair  between  2  Hills, 
.  and  there  be  no  Rivers  or  Wells,  but  Water  cometh 
by  Conduit  from  Hebron.  And  ye  shall  understand,  that 
Jerusalem  of  old  Time,  unto  the  Time  of  Melchisadech,  was 
clept  Jebus  ;  and  after  it  was  clept  Salem,  unto  the  Time  of 
King  David,  that  put  these  2  Names  together,  and  clept  it 
Jebusalem ;  and  after  that.  King  Solomon  clept  it  Jeroso- 
loma ;  and  after  that.  Men  clept  it  Jerusalem,  and  so  it  is 
clept  yet. 

And  about  Jerusalem  is  the  Kingdom  of  Syria.  And  there 
beside  is  the  Land  of  Palestine,  and  beside  it  is  Ascalon,  and 
beside  that  is  the  Land  of  Maritaine.  But  Jerusalem  is  in 
the  Land  of  Judea,  and  it  is  clept  Judea,  for  that  Judas 
Maccabeus  was  King  of  that  Country ;  and  it  marcheth 
Eastward  with  the  Kingdom  of  Arabia ;  on  the  South  Side 
with  the  Land  of  Egypt ;  and  on  the  West  Side  with  the 
Great  Sea ;  on  the  North  Side,  toward  the  Kingdom  of  Syria 
and  to  the  Sea  of  Cyprus.  In  Jerusalem  was  wont  to  be 
a  Patriarch ;  and  Archbishops  and  Bishops  about  in  the 
Country.  About  Jerusalem  be  these  Cities :  Hebron,  at 
7  Mile ;  Jericho,  at  6  Mile ;  Beersheba,  at  8  Mile ;  Ascalon, 
at  17  Mile;  Jaffa,  at  16  Mile;  Ramath,  at  3  Mile;  and  Beth- 
lehem, at  2  Mile.  And  a  2  Mile  from  Bethlehem,  toward 
the  South,  is  the  Church  of  St.  Karitot,  that  was  Abbot 
there,  for  whom  they  made  much  Dole  amongst  the  Monks 
when  he  died  ;  and  they  be  yet  mourning  in  the  Wise  that 
they  made  their  Lamentation  for  him  the  first  Time  ;  and  it 
is  full  great  Pity  to  behold. 

This  Country  and  Land  of  Jerusalem  hath  been  in  many 
divers  Nations'  Hands,  and  often,  therefore,  hath  the  Coun- 
try suffered  much  Tribulation  for  the  Sin  of  the  People  that 

43 


44  MANDEVILLE 

dwell  there.  For  that  Country  hath  been  in  the  Hands  of 
all  Nations ;  that  is  to  say,  of  Jews,  of  Canaanites,  Assyrians, 
Persians,  Medes,  Macedonians,  of  Greeks,  Romans,  of  Chris- 
tian Men,  of  Saracens,  Barbarians,  Turks,  Tartars,  and  of 
many  other  divers  Nations ;  for  God  will  not  that  it  be  long 
in  the  Hands  of  Traitors  nor  of  Sinners,  be  they  Christian 
or  other.  And  now  have  the  Heathen  Men  held  that  Land 
in  their  Hands  40  Year  and  more ;  but  they  shall  not  hold 
it  long,  if  God  will. 

And  you  shall  understand,  that  when  Men  come  to  Jeru- 
salem, their  first  Pilgrimage  is  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  where  our  Lord  was  buried,  that  is  without  the 
City  on  the  North  Side ;  but  it  is  now  enclosed  in  by  the 
Town  Wall.  And  there  is  a  full  fair  Church,  all  round,  and 
open  above,  and  covered  with  Lead ;  and  on  the  West  Side 
is  a  fair  Tower  and  an  high  for  Bells,  strongly  made. 

And  in  the  midst  of  the  Church  is  a  Tabernacle,  as  it  were 
a  little  House,  made  with  a  low  little  Door,  and  that  Taber- 
nacle is  made  in  manner  of  half  a  Compass,  right  curiously 
and  richly  made  of  Gold  and  Azure  and  other  rich  Colours 
fully  nobly  made.  And  in  the  right  Side  of  that  Tabernacle 
is  the  Sepulchre  of  our  Lord ;  and  the  Tabernacle  is  8  Foot 
long,  and  5  Foot  wide,  and  11  Foot  in  height.  And  it  is 
not  long  since  the  Sepulchre  was  all  open,  that  men  might 
kiss  it  and  touch  it ;  but  as  Pilgrims  that  came  thither 
laboured  to  break  the  Stone  in  Pieces  or  in  Powder,  therefore 
the  Sultan  hath  made  a  Wall  about  the  Sepulchre  that  no 
man  may  touch  it :  but  in  the  left  Side  of  the  Wall  of  the 
Tabernacle  is,  well  the  Height  of  a  Man,  a  great  Stone  of 
the  Quantity  of  a  Man's  Head,  that  was  of  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre ;  and  that  Stone  kiss  the  Pilgrims  that  come  thither. 
In  that  Tabernacle  be  no  Windows,  but  it  is  all  made  light 
with  Lamps  that  hang  before  the  Sepulchre.  And  there  is 
a  Lamp  that  hangeth  before  the  Sepulchre,  that  burneth 
alight ;  and  on  the  Good  Friday  it  goeth  out  by  himself,  and 
lighteth  again  by  himself  at  that  Hour  that  our  Lord  rose 
from  Death  to  Life. 

Also  within  the  Church,  at  the  right  Side,  beside  the 
Choir  of  the  Church,  is  the  Mount  of  Calvary,  where  our 
Lord  was  put  on   the  Cross ;  and  it  is  a  Rock  of  White 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  45 

Colour  and  a  little  mingled  with  Red.  And  the  Cross  was 
set  in  a  Mortise  in  the  same  Rock.  And  on  that  Rock 
dropped  the  Wounds  of  our  Lord  when  He  was  in  Pain  on 
the  Cross.     And  that  is  clept  Golgotha. 

And  men  go  up  to  that  Golgotha  by  Steps ;  and  in  the 
Place  of  that  Mortise  was  Adam's  Head  found  after  Noah's 
Flood,  in  Token  that  the  Sins  of  Adam  should  be  or  redeemed 
in  that  same  Place.  And  upon  that  Rock  made  Abraham 
Sacrifice  to  our  Lord.  And  there  is  an  Altar ;  and  before 
that  Altar  lie  Godefroi  de  Bouillon  and  Baldwin,  and  other 
Christian  Kings  of  Jerusalem. 

And  there,  nigh  where  our  Lord  was  crucified,  is  this 
written  in  Greek  :  "  'O  ^eo?  BauiXei)?  qjxSiv  irpb  alcovcov  elpydcr- 
aro  (TcoTrjpiap  ev  fieam  Tr}9  7r}9 ;  "  that  is  to  say,  in  Latin,  — 
*•  Deus  Rex  noster  ante  Secula  operatus  est  Salutem,  in  Medio 
Terrae  ;  "  that  is  to  say,  —  "  God  our  King,  before  the  Worlds,  ' 
hath  wrought  Health  in  Midst  of  the  Earth."  And  also  on 
that  Rock,  where  the  Cross  was  set,  is  written  within  the 
Rock  these  Words :  "*0  etSet?,  eo-ri  /Sao-t?  t^?  Trto-Teo)?  oX?;? 
Tov  Koa/xov  TOVTOv;  "  that  is  to  say,  in  Latin, —  "  Quod  vides, 
est  Fundamentum  totius  Fidei  hujus  Mundi ; "  that  is  to 
say,  —  "  That  thou  seest,  is  the  Ground  of  all  the  Faith  of 
this  World." 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  when  our  Lord  was  put  upon 
the  Cross,  He  was  33  Year  and  3  Months  old.  And  the 
Prophecy  of  David  saith  thus :  "  Ouadraginta  Annis  proximus 
fui  Generationi  huic ;  "  that  is  to  say,  "  Forty  Year  was  I 
Neighbour  to  this  Kindred."  And  thus  should  it  seem  that 
the  Prophecies  were  not  true.  But  they  be  both  true  ;  for 
in  old  Time  Men  made  a  Year  of  10  Months,  of  the  which 
March  was  the  first  and  December  was  the  last.  But  Gaius, 
that  was  Emperor  of  Rome,  put  these  2  Months  thereto, 
January  and  February,  and  ordained  the  Year  of  12  Months  ; 
that  is  to  say,  365  Days,  without  Leap  Year,  after  the  proper 
Course  of  the  Sun.  And  therefore,  after  counting  10  Months 
to  the  Year,  he  died  in  the  40th  Year,  as  the  Prophet  said. 
And  after  the  Year  of  12  Months,  he  was  of  Age  33  Year 
and  3  Months. 

Also,  within  the  Mount  of  Calvary,  on  the  right  Side,  is  an 
Altar,  where  the  Pillar  lieth  that  our  Lord  Jesu  was  bounden 


46  MANDEVILLE 

to  when  was  He  scourged.  And  there  beside  be  4  Pillars  of 
Stone,  that  always  drop  Water ;  and  some  Men  say  that  they 
weep  for  our  Lord's  Death.  And  nigh  that  Altar  is  a  place 
under  Earth,  42  Steps  of  Deepness,  where  the  Holy  Cross 
was  found,  by  the  Wit  of  Saint  Helen,  under  a  Rock  where 
the  Jews  had  hid  it.  And  that  was  tested  as  the  true  Cross  ; 
for  they  found  3  Crosses,  one  of  our  Lord,  and  2  of  the  two 
Thieves ;  and  Saint  Helen  proved  them  by  a  dead  Body  that 
arose  from  Death  to  Life,  when  that  it  was  laid  on  it,  that 
our  Lord  died  on.  And  thereby  in  the  Walls  is  the  Place 
where  the  4  Nails  of  our  Lord  were  hid  :  for  He  had  2  in  His 
Hands  and  2  in  His  Feet.  And,  of  one  of  these,  the  Em- 
peror of  Constantinople  made  a  Bridle  to  his  Horse  to  bear 
him  in  Battle ;  and,  through  Virtue  thereof,  he  overcame  his 
Enemies,  and  won  all  the  Land  of  Asia  the  Less,  that  is  to 
say,  Turkey,  Armenia  the  Less  and  the  More,  and  from  Syria 
to  Jerusalem,  from  Arabia  to  Persia,  from  Mesopotamia  to 
the  Kingdom  of  Aleppo,  from  Egypt  the  High  and  the  Low 
and  all  the  other  Kingdoms  unto  the  Depth  of  Ethiopia,  and 
into  Ind  the  Less  that  then  was  Christian. 

And  there  were  in  that  Time  many  good  Holy  Men  and 
Holy  Hermits,  of  whom  the  Book  of  the  Fathers'  Lives 
speaketh,  and  they  be  now  in  Paynims'  and  Saracens'  Hands : 
but  when  God  Almighty  will,  right  so  as  the  Lands  were  lost 
through  Sin  of  Christian  Men,  so  shall  they  be  won  again  by 
Christian  Men  through  Help  of  God. 

And  in  Midst  of  that  Church  is  a  Compass,  in  the  which 
Joseph  of  Arimathea  laid  the  Body  of  our  Lord  when  he  had 
taken  Him  down  off  the  Cross ;  and  there  he  washed  the 
Wounds  of  our  Lord.  And  that  Compass,  say  Men,  is  the 
Midst  of  the  World. 

And  in  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre,  on  the  North  Side, 
is  the  Place  where  our  Lord  was  put  in  Prison  (for  He  was 
in  Prison  in  many  Places)  ;  and  there  is  a  Part  of  the  Chain 
that  He  was  bounden  with  ;  and  there  He  appeared  first  to 
Mary  Magdalene  when  He  was  risen,  and  she  thought  that 
He  had  been  a  Gardener, 

In  the  Church  of  Saint  Sepulchre  were  wont  to  be  Canons 
of  the  Order  of  Saint  Augustine,  and  they  had  a  Prior,  but 
the  Patriarch  was  their  Sovereign. 


I 


THE   CAVE   OF   THE   CROSS. 
Photogravure  from  an  engraving. 


46 

to  when 

Stone,  t 

weep  f 

unde' 

was 

the 

fr 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  47 

And  without  the  Doors  of  the  Church,  on  the  Right  Side 
as  Men  go  upward  i8  Steps,  said  our  Lord  to  His  Mother, 
"  Mulier,  ecce  Filius  tuus;"  that  is  to  say,  "Woman,  Lo ! 
thy  Son  !  "  And  after  that  He  said  to  John,  His  Disciple, 
"Ecce  Mater  tua;"  that  is  to  say,  "  Lo !  Behold  thy  Mother!" 
And  these  Words  He  said  on  the  Cross.  And  on  these  Steps 
went  our  Lord  when  He  bare  the  Cross  on  His  Shoulder. 
And  under  these  steps  is  a  Chapel,  and  in  that  Chapel  sing 
Priests  (Indians,  that  is  to  say.  Priests  of  Ind),  not  after  our 
Law,  but  after  theirs  ;  and  always  they  make  their  Sacrament 
of  the  Altar,  saying,  "  Pater  Noster  "  and  other  Prayers  there- 
with ;  with  the  which  Prayers  they  say  the  Words  that  the 
Sacrament  is  made  of,  for  they  know  not  the  Additions  that 
many  Popes  have  made ;  but  they  sing  with  good  Devotion. 
And  there  near,  is  the  Place  where  that  our  Lord  rested  Him 
when  He  was  weary  for  the  bearing  of  the  Cross. 

And  ye  shall  understand  that  before  the  Church  of  the  Sep- 
ulchre is  the  City  more  feeble  than  in  any  other  Part,  for  the 
great  Plain  that  is  between  the  Church  and  the  City.  And 
toward  the  East  Side,  without  the  Walls  of  the  City,  is  the 
Vale  of  Jehosaphat  that  toucheth  to  the  Walls  as  though  it 
were  a  large  Ditch.  And  anent  that  Vale  of  Jehosaphat,  out 
of  the  City,  is  the  Church  of  Saint  Stephen  where  he  was 
stoned  to  Death.  And  there  beside,  is  the  Golden  Gate,  that 
may  not  be  opened,  by  the  which  Gate  our  Lord  entered  on 
Palm-Sunday  upon  an  Ass  :  and  the  Gate  opened  to  Him 
when  He  would  go  unto  the  Temple ;  and  the  Steps  of  the 
Ass's  Feet  appear  yet  in  3  Places  on  the  Stairs  that  be  of  full 
hard  Stone. 

And  before  the  Church  of  Saint  Sepulchre,  toward  the 
South,  at  200  Paces,  is  the  great  Hospital  of  Saint  John,  of 
which  the  Hospitallers  had  their  Foundation.  And  within 
the  Palace  of  the  Sick  Men  of  that  Hospital  be  124  Pillars  of 
Stone.  And  in  the  Walls  of  the  House,  beside  the  Number 
above-said,  there  be  54  Pillars  that  bear  up  the  House.  And 
from  that  Hospital  to  go  toward  the  East  is  a  full  fair  Church, 
that  is  clept  "  Notre  Dame  la  Grande."  And  then  is  there 
another  Church  right  nigh,  that  is  clept  "  Notre  Dame  de 
Latine."  And  there  were  Mary  Cleophas  and  Mary  Magdalene, 
and  tore  their  Hair  when  our  Lord  was  in  Pain  on  the  Cross. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

Of  the  Temple  of  our  Lord.     Of  the  Cruelty  of  King  Herod.     Of 
the  Moinit  Sion.     Of  Probatica  Piscina  ;  and  of  Natatorium  Siloe 

AND  from  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre,  toward  the  East, 
at  i6o  Paces,  is  "  Templum  Domini."  It  is  a  right  fair 
House,  and  it  is  all  round  and  high,  and  covered  with 
Lead.  And  it  is  well  paved  with  white  Marble.  But  the 
Saracens  will  suffer  no  Christian  Man  nor  Jews  to  come 
therein,  for  they  say  that  none  such  foul  sinful  Men  should 
come  in  so  holy  a  Place :  but  I  came  in  there  and  in  other 
Places  where  I  would,  for  I  had  Letters  of  the  Sultan  with  his 
great  Seal,  and  commonly  other  Men  have  but  his  Signet. 
In  the  which  Letters  he  commanded,  of  his  special  Grace,  to 
all  his  Subjects,  to  let  me  see  all  the  Places,  and  to  inform 
me  fully  of  all  the  Mysteries  of  every  Place,  and  to  conduct 
me  from  City  to  City,  if  it  were  needed,  and  buxomly  to  receive 
me  and  my  Company,  and  to  obey  all  my  reasonable  Requests 
if  they  were  not  greatly  against  the  Royal  Power  and  Dignity 
of  the  Sultan  or  of  his  Law.  And  to  others,  that  ask  him 
Grace,  such  as  have  served  him,  he  giveth  not  but  his  Signet, 
the  which  they  make  to  be  borne  before  them  hanging  on  a 
Spear.  And  the  Folk  of  the  Country  do  great  Worship  and 
Reverence  to  his  Signet  or  Seal,  and  kneel  thereto  as  lowly 
as  we  do  to  "Corpus  Domini."  And  Men  do  yet  full  greater 
Reverence  to  his  Letters  ;  for  the  Admiral  and  all  other 
Lords  that  they  be  shewed  to,  before  ere  they  receive  them, 
they  kneel  down  ;  and  then  they  take  them  and  put  them  on 
their  Heads  ;  and  after,  they  kiss  them  and  then  they  read 
them,  kneeling  with  great  Reverence ;  and  then  they  offer 
themselves  to  do  all  that  the  Bearer  asketh. 

And  in  this  "Templum  Domini"  were  some-time  Canons 
Regular,  to  whom  they  were  obedient ;  and  in  this  Temple 
was  Charlemagne  when  that  the  Angel  brought  him  the  Pre- 
puce of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  of  his  Circumcision  ;  and  after, 

48 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  49 

King  Charles  had  it  brought  to  Paris  into  his  Chapel,  and  after 
that  he  had  it  brought  to  Peyteres  (Poitiers),  and  after  that  he 
had  it  brought  to  Chartres. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  this  is  not  the  Temple  that 
Solomon  made,  for  that  Temple  endured  but  1 102  Year.  For 
Titus,  Vespasian's  Son,  Emperor  of  Rome,  had  laid  Siege 
about  Jerusalem  to  discomfit  the  Jews  ;  for  they  put  our  Lord 
to  Death,  without  Leave  of  the  Emperor,  And,  when  he  had 
won  the  City,  he  burnt  the  Temple  and  beat  it  down,  and 
all  the  City,  and  took  the  Jews  and  did  them  to  Death,  — 
1,100,000;  and  the  others  he  put  in  Prison  and  sold  them  to 
Servage,  —  30  for  one  Penny  ;  for  they  said  they  bought  Jesu 
for  30  Pennies,  and  he  made  them  more  cheap  when  he  gave 
30  for  one  Penny. 

And  after  that  time,  Julian  the  Apostate,  that  was  Emperor, 
gave  leave  to  the  Jews  to  make  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  for 
he  hated  Christian  Men.  And  yet  he  was  christened,  but  he 
forsook  his  Law,  and  became  a  Renegade.  And  when  the 
Jews  had  made  the  Temple,  came  an  Earthquaking,  and  cast 
it  down  (as  God  would)  and  destroyed  all  that  they  had  made. 

And  after  that,  Hadrian,  that  was  Emperor  of  Rome,  and 
of  the  Lineage  of  Troy,  made  Jerusalem  again  and  the  Temple 
as  Solomon  made  it.  And  he  would  suffer  no  Jews  to  dwell 
there,  but  only  Christian  Men.  For  although  it  were  so  that 
he  was  not  christened,  yet  he  loved  Christian  Men  more  than 
any  other  Nation  save  his  own.  This  Emperor  made  enclose 
the  Church  of  Saint  Sepulchre,  and  walkd  it  within  the  City  ; 
that,  before,  was  without  the  City,  long  time  before.  And  he 
would  have  changed  the  Name  of  Jerusalem,  and  have  clept 
it  ^lia,  but  that  Name  lasted  not  long. 

Also,  ye  shall  understand,  that  the  Saracens  do  much  Rev- 
erence to  that  Temple,  and  they  say,  that  that  Place  is  right 
holy.  And  when  they  go  in  they  go  bare-foot,  and  kneel 
many  Times.  And  when  my  Fellows  and  I  saw  that,  when 
we  came  in  we  did  off  our  Shoes  and  came  in  bare-foot,  and 
thought  that  we  should  do  as  m.uch  Worship  and  Reverence 
thereto,  as  any  of  the  misbelieving  Men  should,  and  have  as 
great  Compunction  of  Heart. 

This  Temple  is  64  Cubits  of  Wideness,  and  as  many  in 
Length;  and  of  Height  it  is  120  Cubits,     And  it  is  within, 

5 


50  MANDEVILLE 

all  about,  made  with  Pillars  of  Marble.  And  in  the  middle 
Place  of  the  Temple  be  many  high  Stages,  of  14  Steps  of 
Height,  made  with  good  Pillars  all  about  :  and  this  Place  the 
Jews  call  "Sancta  Sanctorum;"  that  is  to  say,  "Holy  of 
Holies."  And,  in  that  Place,  cometh  no  Man  save  only  the 
Prelate,  that  maketh  here  Sacrifice.  And  the  Folk  stand  all 
about,  in  diverse  Stages,  according  as  they  be  of  Dignity  or 
of  Worship,  so  that  they  all  may- see  the  Sacrifice.  And  in 
that  Temple  be  4  Entries,  and  the  Gates  be  of  Cypress,  well 
made  and  curiously  bedight :  and  within  the  East  Gate  our 
Lord  said,  "  Here  is  Jerusalem."  And  in  the  North  Side  of 
that  Temple,  within  the  Gate,  there  is  a  Well,  but  it  runneth 
nought,  of  the  which  Holy  Writ  speaketh  and  saith,  "  Vidi 
Aquam  egredientem  de  Templo ; "  that  is  to  say,  "  I  saw 
Water  come  out  of  the  Temple." 

And  on  that  other  Side  of  the  Temple  there  is  a  Rock  that 
Men  call  Moriach  (but  after  it  was  called  Bethel)  where  the 
Ark  of  God  with  Relics  of  the  Jews  were  wont  to  be  put. 
That  Ark  or  Hutch  with  the  Relics  Titus  led  with  him  to 
Rome,  when  he  had  discomfited  all  the  Jews.  In  that  Ark 
were  the  10  Commandments,  and  Aaron's  Yard  (or  Rod),  and 
Moses'  Yard  with  the  which  he  made  the  Red  Sea  part,  as  it 
had  been  a  Wall,  on  the  right  Side  and  on  the  left  Side,  whiles 
that  the  People  of  Israel  passed  the  Sea  dry-foot :  and  with 
that  Yard  he  smote  the  Rock,  and  the  Water  came  out  of  it ; 
and  with  that  Yard  he  did  many  Wonders.  And  therein  was 
a  Vessel  of  Gold  full  of  Manna,  and  Clothing  and  Ornaments 
and  the  Tabernacle  of  Aaron,  and  a  square  Tabernacle  of 
Gold  with  12  Precious  Stones,  and  a  Box  of  green  Jasper 
with  4  Figures  and  8  Names  of  our  Lord,  and  7  Candlesticks 
of  Gold,  and  12  Pots  of  Gold,  and  4  Censers  of  Gold,  and  an 
Altar  of  Gold,  and  4  Lions  of  Gold  upon  the  which  they  bare 
Cherubim  of  Gold  12  Spans  long,  and  the  Circle  of  Swans  of 
Heaven  with  a  Tabernacle  of  Gold  and  a  Table  of  Silver,  and 
two  Trumpets  of  Silver,  and  7  Barley  Loaves  and  all  the  other 
Relics  that  were  before  the  Birth  of  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ. 

And  upon  that  Rock  was  Jacob  sleeping  when  he  saw  the 
Angels  go  up  and  down  by  a  Ladder,  and  he  said,  "  Vere  locus 
iste  sanctus  est,  et  ego  ignorabam  ; "  that  is  to  say,  "  Forsooth 
this  Place  is  holy,  and  I  wist  it  nought."     And  there  an  Angel 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  5 I 

held  Jacob  still,  and  changed  his  Name,  and  called  him  Israel, 
And  in  that  same  Place  David  saw  the  Angel  that  smote  the 
Folk  with  a  Sword,  and  put  it  up  bloody  in  the  Sheath.  And 
on  that  same  Rock  was  Saint  Simeon  when  he  received  our 
Lord  into  the  Temple.  And  on  that  Rock  he  set  Him  when 
the  Jews  would  have  stoned  Him  ;  and  a  Star  came  down  and 
gave  Him  Light.  And  upon  that  Rock  preached  our  Lord 
often-time  to  the  People.  And  out  of  that  said  Temple  our 
Lord  drove  the  Buyers  and  the  Sellers.  And  upon  that  Rock 
our  Lord  set  Him  when  the  Jews  would  have  stoned  Him  ; 
and  the  Rock  clave  in  2,  and  in  that  Cleaving  was  our  Lord 
hid,  and  there  came  down  a  Star  and  gave  Light  and  served 
Him  with  Clearness.  And  upon  that  Rock  sat  our  Lady,  and 
learned  her  Psalter.  And  there  our  Lord  forgave  the  Woman 
her  Sins,  that  was  found  in  Adultery.  And  there  was  our 
Lord  ciro-.mcised.  And  there  the  Angels  shewed  Tidings 
to  Zach3j,.as  of  the  Birth  of  Saint  Baptist  his  Son.  And  there 
offered  (..rst  Melchisadech  Bread  and  Wine  to  our  Lord,  in 
Token  rjf  the  Sacrament  that  was  to  come.  And  there  fell 
Davif'  'praying  to  our  Lord  and  to  the  Angel  that  smote  the 
Pep-'>  \  that  he  would  have  Mercy  on  him  and  on  the  People  : 
an  i'Ui',*  Lord  heard  his  Prayer,  and  therefore  would  he  make 
th  TV^emple  in  that  Place,  but  our  Lord  forbade  him  by  an 
/g<?«il ;  for  he  had  done  Treason  when  he  made  slay  Uriah 
tr  C  worthy  Knight,  to  have  Bathsheba  his  Wife.  And  there- 
/''^p.e,  all  the  Provision  that  he  had  ordained  to  make  the  Temple 
with  took  Solomon  his  Son,  and  he  made  it,  and  he  prayed 
our  Lord,  that  all  those  that  prayed  to  Him  in  that  Place  with 
good  Heart  —  that  He  would  hear  their  Prayer  and  grant  it 
them  if  they  asked  it  rightfully :  and  our  Lord  granted  it 
him,  and  therefore  Solomon  clept  that  Temple  the  Temple  of 
Counsel  and  of  Help  of  God. 

And  without  the  Gate  of  the  Temple  is  an  Altar  where 
Jews  were  wont  to  offer  Doves  and  Turtles.  And  between 
the  Temple  and  that  Altar  was  Zacharias  slain.  And  upon 
the  Pinnacle  of  that  Temple  was  our  Lord  brought  to  be 
tempted  of  the  Enemy,  the  Fiend.  And  on  the  Height  of 
that  Pinnacle  the  Jews  set  Saint  James,  and  cast  him  down 
to  the  Earth,  that  first  was  Bishop  of  Jerusalem.  And  at  the 
Entry  of  that  Temple,  toward  the  West,  is  the  Gate  that  is 


52  MANDEVILLE 

clept  "Porta  Speciosa"  (the  Gate  Beautiful).  And  nigh  be- 
side that  Temple,  upon  the  right  Side,  is  a  Church  covered 
with  Lead  that  is  clept  Solomon's  School. 

And  from  that  Temple  towards  the  South,  right  nigh,  is 
the  Temple  of  Solomon,  that  is  right  fair  and  well  polished. 
And  in  that  Temple  dwell  the  Knights  of  the  Temple  that 
were  wont  to  be  clept  Templars ;  and  that  was  the  Founda- 
tion of  their  Order,  so  that  there  dwelled  Knights  and  Canons 
Regular  in  "Templo  Domini." 

From  that  Temple  toward  the  East,  a  120  Paces,  in  the 
Corner  of  the  City,  is  the  Bath  of  our  Lord  ;  and  in  that  Bath 
was  wont  to  come  Water  from  Paradise,  and  it  droppeth  yet. 
And  there  beside  is  our  Lady's  Bed.  And  fast  by  is  the 
Temple  of  Saint  Simeon,  and  without  the  Cloister  of  the  Tem- 
ple, toward  the  North,  is  a  full  fair  Church  of  Saint  Anne,  our 
Lady's  Mother;  and  there  was  our  Lady  conceive ■S^and  be- 
fore that  Church  is  a  great  Tree  that  began  to  gro\  w.-e  same 
Night.  And  under  that  Church,  in  going  down  by  0  '^Steps, 
lieth  Joachim,  our  Lady's  Father,  in  a  fair  Tomb  o.^  Hone ; 
and  there  beside  lay  some-time  Saint  Anne,  his  Wuav  but 
Saint  Helen  had  her  translated  to  Constantinople,  ^dyv-  in 
that  Church  is  a  Well,  in  manner  of  a  Cistern,  that  ^rt'^  c^pt 
"Probatica  Piscina,"  that  hath  5  Entries.  Into  tha'WvJ  ^tll 
Angels  were  wont  to  come  from  Heaven  and  bathe  va  ^^m. 
And  that  Man,  that  first  bathed  him  after  the  moving  oif  -he 
Water,  was  made  whole  of  what  manner  of  Sickness  thai^'ie 
had.  And  there  our  Lord  healed  a  Man  of  the  Palsy  that  lay 
sick  38  Year,  and  our  Lord  said  to  him,  "Tolle  Grabatum 
tuum  et  ambula;"  that  is  to  say,  "Take  thy  Bed  and  go." 
And  there  beside  was  Pilate's  House. 

And  fast  by  is  King  Herod's  House,  that  made  slay  the 
Innocents.  This  Herod  was  over-much  cursed  and  cruel. 
For  first  he  made  slay  his  Wife  that  he  loved  right  well ; 
and  for  the  passing  Love  that  he  had  to  her  when  he  saw  her 
dead,  he  fell  in  a  Rage  and  out  of  his  Wit  a  great  while ;  and 
then  he  came  again  to  his  Wit.  And  after  he  made  slay  his 
2  Sons  that  he  had  of  that  Wife.  And  after  that  he  made 
slay  another  of  his  Wives,  and  a  Son  that  he  had  by  her. 
And  after  that  he  made  slay  his  own  Mother ;  and  he  would 
have  slain  his  Brother  also,  but  he  died  suddenly.     And  after 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  53 

he  fell  into  Sickness.  And  when  he  felt  that  he  should  die, 
he  sent  after  his  Sister  and  after  all  the  Lords  of  his  Land. 
And  when  they  were  come  he  had  them  commanded  to 
Prison.  And  then  he  said  to  his  Sister,  he  wist  well  that 
Men  of  the  Country  would  make  no  Sorrow  for  his  Death, 
And  therefore  he  made  his  Sister  swear  that  she  should  make 
smite  off  all  the  Heads  of  the  Lords  when  he  were  dead  ;  and 
then  should  all  the  Land  make  Sorrow  for  his  Death,  and  else, 
nought.  And  thus  he  made  his  Testament.  But  his  Sister 
fulfilled  not  his  Will.  Fo'-^s  soon  as  he  was  dead,  she  de- 
livered all  the  Lords  o;''ci'  ^  ^ison  and  let  them  go,  each  Lord 
to  his  own,  and  ti^"'^  P''^^d\\  the  Purpose  of  her  Brother's 
Ordinance.  A'^u^  P"^^ .  this  cursed  King  never  made  Sor- 
row for,  as  he"  ^""^st  b^j'osed.  And  ye  shall  understand,  that 
in  that  Tin  '  'l-^P^^-ere  3  Herods,  of  great  Name  and  Fame 
for  their  C  ,u  '^^^  /his  Herod,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  was 
Herod  the  i^  '^'^^jnite ;  and  he  that  made  behead  Saint  John 
the  Baptist  ^  "lierod  Antipas ;  and  he  that  made  smite  off 
Saint  Jam  befor.^j  ^^3  Herod  Agrippa,  and  he  put  Saint 
>o''        Peter  in  ]Jr   Lora 

js'^  l^  Philip  any-e^  j^  ^^iq  City  is  the  Church  of  Saint 
Sa'  V^^^^<..*^^  ^^e  is  the  left  Arm  of  John  Chrisostome,  and 
tb-'/^  Strj.  p' s  Qf  the  head  of  Saint  Stephen.  And  on  that 
o{^{«iOod^e  of  ^^Ae  Street,  toward  the  South  as  Men  go  to 
IV^H  "^  f^Gion,  is  a  Church  of  Saint  James,  where  he  was  be- 
he^v  ^^ 

A5-ot  from  that  Church,  a  120  Paces,  is  the  Mount  of  Sion. 
And  there  is  a  fair  Church  of  our  Lady,  where  she  dwelled  ; 
and  there  she  died.  And  there  was  wont  to  be  an  Abbot  of 
Canons  Regular.  And  from  thence  was  she  borne  of  the 
Apostles  unto  the  Vale  of  Jehosaphat.  And  there  is  the 
Stone  that  the  Angel  brought  to  our  Lord  from  the  Mount  of 
Sinai,  and  it  is  of  that  same  Colour  that  is  the  Rock  of  St. 
Catherine.  And  there  beside  is  the  Gate  where  through  our 
Lady  went,  when  she  was  with  Child,  when  she  went  to  Bethle- 
hem. Also  at  the  Entry  of  the  Mount  Sion  is  a  Chapel.  And 
in  that  Chapel  is  a  Stone  great  and  large,  with  the  which  the 
Sepulchre  was  covered,  when  Joseph  of  Arimathea  had  put 
our  Lord  therein  ;  the  which  Stone  the  3  Marys  saw  turn 
upward  when  they  came  to  the  Sepulchre  the  Day  of  His 


54  MANDEVILLE 

Resurrection,  and  there  found  an  Angel  that  told  them  of 
our  Lord's  uprising  from  Death  to  Life.  And  there  also  in 
the  Wall,  beside  the  Gate  is  a  Stone  of  the  Pillar  that  our 
Lord  was  scourged  at.  And  there  was  Annas's  House,  that 
was  Bishop  of  the  Jews  in  that  Time.  And  there  was  our 
Lord  examined  in  the  Night,  and  scourged  and  smitten  and 
violently  entreated.  And  in  that  same  Place  Saint  Peter  for- 
sook our  Lord  thrice  ere  the  Cock  crew.  And  there  is  a  Part 
of  the  Table  that  He  made  His  Supper  on,  when  He  made 
His  Maundy  with  His  Disciples,  when  He  gave  them  His 
Flesh  and  His  Blood  in  Form  c\  ^read  and  Wine. 

And  under  that  Chapel,  32  Stt^^^^own,  is  the  Place  where 
our  Lord  washed  His  Disciples'  Fet  ;    \d  the  Vessel  for  the 

nf'  ( 

Water  is  there  yet.  And  there  beside  'same  Vessel  was 
Saint  Stephen  buried.  And  there  is  v  ""-tar  where  our 
Lady  heard  the  Angels  sing  Mass.  An'T  e  appeared  first 
our  Lord  to  His  Disciples  after  His  Re^  '  .  ^'on,  the  Gates 
closed,  and  said  to  them,  "  Pax  vobis  !  "  that  is  iS^y*  "  Peace 
to  you ! "  And  on  that  Mount  appeared,*  ,  .  ,t  to  Saint 
Thomas  the  Apostle  and  bade  him  assay  f  .'  .  mds  ;  and 
there  believed  he  first,  and  said,  "Domi,  Ku' t-  ^^  Deus 
mens  ! "  that  is  to  say,  "  My  Lord  and  n.  _ '  z.  ,  ^^\n  the 
same  Church,  beside  the  Altar,  were  allc,  I'zh^  h-s  on 
Whit-Sunday,  when  the  Holy  Ghost  des(  .^^  ed  oii^  "  m  in 
Likeness  of  Fire.  And  there  made  our  jL-,ord  H!,  rass- 
over  with  His  Disciples.  And  there  slept  Saint  Jc,  i  the 
Evangehst  upon  the  Breast  of  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ,  a,  J  saw 
sleeping  many  heavenly  Privities. 

Mount  Sion  is  within  the  City,  and  it  is  a  little  higher  than 
the  other  Side  of  the  City  ;  and  the  City  is  stronger  on  that 
Side  than  on  that  other  Side.  For  at  the  Foot  of  the  Mount 
Sion  is  a  fair  Castle  and  a  strong,  that  the  Sultan  had  made. 
In  the  Mount  Sion  were  buried  King  David  and  King  Solomon, 
and  many  other  Kings,  Jews  of  Jerusalem.  And  there  is  the 
Place  where  the  Jews  would  have  cast  up  the  Body  of  our 
Lady  when  the  Apostles  bare  the  Body  to  be  buried  in  the 
Vale  of  Jehosaphat.  And  there  is  the  Place  where  Saint 
Peter  wept  full  tenderly  after  he  had  forsaken  our  Lord. 
And  a  Stone's  Cast  from  that  Chapel  is  another  Chapel, 
where  our  Lord  was  judged,  for   there,  at  that  Time,  was 


VOYAGES  AND   TRAVELS  55 

Caiaphas's  House.  From  that  Chapel,  to  go  toward  the  East, 
at  140  Paces,  is  a  deep  Cave  under  the  Rock,  that  is  clept 
the  Galilee  of  our  Lord,  where  Saint  Peter  hid  him  when  he 
had  forsaken  our  Lord.  Item,  between  the  Mount  Sion  and 
the  Temple  of  Solomon  is  the  place  where  our  Lord  raised 
the  Maiden  in  her  Father's  House. 

Under  the  Mount  Sion,  toward  the  Vale  of  Jehosaphat,  is  a 
Well  that  is  clept  "  Natatorium  Siloe,"  the  Pool  of  Siloam. 
And  there  was  our  Lord  washed  after  His  Baptism ;  and 
there  made  our  Lord  the  blind  Man  to  see.  And  there  was 
a-buried  Isaiah  the  Prophet.  Also,  straight  from  "Natatorium 
Siloe,"  is  an  Image  of  Stone  of  old  ancient  Work  that  Absalom 
had  made,  and  because  thereof  Men  call  it  the  Hand  of 
Absalom.  And  fast  by  is  yet  the  Tree  of  Elder  that  Judas 
hanged  himself  upon,  for  Despair  that  he  had,  when  he  sold 
and  betrayed  our  Lord.  And  there  beside  was  the  Syna- 
gogue, where  the  Bishops  of  the  Jews  and  the  Pharisees  came 
together  and  held  their  Council  ;  and  there  cast  Judas  the 
30  Pence  before  them,  and  said  that  he  had  sinned  be- 
traying our  Lord.  And  there  nigh  was  the  House  of  the 
Apostles  Philip  and  James  the  Son  of  Alpheus.  And  on  that 
other  Side  of  Mount  Sion,  toward  the  South,  beyond  the 
Vale  a  Stone's  Cast,  is  Aceldama ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Field 
of  Blood,  that  was  bought  for  30  Pence,  that  our  Lord  was 
sold  for.  And  in  that  Field  be  many  Tombs  of  Christian 
Men,  for  there  be  many  Pilgrims  buried.  And  there  be  many 
Oratories,  Chapels  and  Hermitages,  where  Hermits  were  wont 
to  dwell.  And  toward  the  East,  an  100  Paces,  is  the  Charnel 
of  the  Hospital  of  Saint  John,  where  Men  were  wont  to  put 
the  Bodies  of  dead  Men, 

And  from  Jerusalem,  toward  the  West,  is  a  fair  Church, 
where  the  Tree  of  the  Cross  grew.  And  2  Mile  from  thence 
is  a  fair  Church,  where  our  Lady  met  with  Elizabeth,  when 
they  were  both  with  Child;  and  Saint  John  stirred  in  his 
Mother's  Womb,  and  made  Reverence  to  his  Creator  that  he 
saw  not.  And  under  the  Altar  of  that  Church  is  the  Place 
where  Saint  John  was  born.  And  from  that  Church  is  a  Mile 
to  the  Castle  of  Emmaus  :  and  there  also  our  Lord  shewed 
Him  to  2  of  His  Disciples  after  His  Resurrection.  Also  on 
that  other  Side,  200   Paces   from   Jerusalem,  is   a   Church, 


56  MANDEVILLE 

where  was  wont  to  be  the  Cave  of  the  Lion.  And  under 
that  Church,  at  30  Steps  of  Deepness,  were  interred  12,000 
Martyrs,  in  the  time  of  King  Cosrhoes  that  the  Lion  met  with, 
all  in  a  Night,  by  the  Will  of  God. 

Also  from  Jerusalem,  2  Mile,  is  the  Mount  Joy,  a  full  fair 
Place  and  a  delicious  ;  and  there  lieth  Samuel  the  Prophet  in 
a  fair  Tomb.  And  Men  call  it  Mount  Joy,  for  it  giveth  Joy  to 
Pilgrims'  Hearts,  because  that  there  Men  see  first  Jerusalem. 

Also  between  Jerusalem  and  the  Mount  of  Olivet  is  the 
Vale  of  Jehosaphat,  under  the  Walls  of  the  City,  as  I  have 
said  before.  And  in  the  Midst  of  the  Vale  is  a  little  River 
that  Men  call  Brook  Cedron,  and  above  it,  overthwart,  lay  a 
Tree  that  the  Cross  was  made  of,  that  Men  went  over  on. 
And  fast  by  it  is  a  little  Pit  in  the  Earth,  where  the  Foot 
of  the  Pillar  is  yet  interred ;  and  there  was  our  Lord  first 
scourged,  for  He  was  scourged  and  villainously  entreated  in 
many  Places.  Also  in  the  middle  Place  of  the  Vale  of  Jehosa- 
phat is  the  Church  of  our  Lady :  and  it  is  of  43  Steps  under 
the  Earth  unto  the  Sepulchre  of  our  Lady.  And  our  Lady 
was  of  Age,  when  she  died,  72  Year.  And  beside  the  Sepul- 
chre of  our  Lady  is  an  Altar,  where  our  Lord  forgave  Saint 
Peter  all  his  Sins.  And  from  thence,  toward  the  West,  under 
an  Altar,  is  a  Well  that  cometh  out  of  the  River  of  Paradise. 
And  wit  well,  that  that  Church  is  full  low  in  the  Earth,  and 
some  is  altogether  within  the  Earth.  But  I  suppose  well, 
that  it  was  not  so  founded.  But  because  that  Jerusalem  hath 
often-time  been  destroyed  and  the  Walls  broken  down  and 
tumbled  into  the  Vale,  and  that  they  have  been  so  filled  up 
again  and  the  Ground  raised  —  for  that  Reason  is  the  Church 
so  low  within  the  Earth.  And,  nevertheless,  Men  say  there 
commonly,  that  the  Earth  hath  so  been  cloven  since  the  Time 
that  our  Lady  was  there  buried ;  and  Men  yet  say  there,  that 
it  waxeth  and  groweth  every  Day,  without  Doubt.  In  that 
Church  were  wont  to  be  black  Monks,  that  had  their  Abbot. 

And  beside  that  Church  is  a  Chapel,  beside  the  Rock  that 
is  called  Gethsemane.  And  there  was  our  Lord  kissed  by 
Judas  ;  and  there  was  He  taken  by  the  Jews.  And  there  left 
our  Lord  His  Disciples,  when  He  went  to  pray  before  His 
Passion,  when  He  prayed  and  said,  "  Pater,  si  fieri  potest, 
transeat  a  me  Calix  iste ; "  that  is  to  say,  "  Father,  if  it  may 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  57 

be,  do  let  this  Chalice  go  from  me  ; "  and,  when  He  came 
again  to  His  Disciples,  He  found  them  sleeping.  And  in  the 
Rock  within  the  Chapel  yet  appear  the  Print  of  the  Fingers 
of  our  Lord's  Hand,  when  He  put  them  in  the  Rock,  when 
the  Jews  would  have  taken  Him. 

And  from  thence,  a  Stone's  Cast  toward  the  South,  is 
another  Chapel,  where  our  Lord  sweat  Drops  of  Blood.  And 
there,  right  nigh,  is  the  Tomb  of  King  Jehosaphat,  of  whom 
the  Vale  beareth  the  Name.  This  Jehosaphat  was  King  of 
that  Country,  and  was  converted  by  an  Hermit,  that  was  a 
worthy  Man  and  did  much  Good.  And  from  thence,  a  Bow's 
Draw  toward  the  South,  is  a  Church,  where  Saint  James  and 
Zachariah  the  Prophet  were  buried. 

And  above  that  Vale  is  the  Mount  of  Olivet ;  and  it  is 
clept  so  for  the  Plenty  of  Olives  that  grow  there.  That 
Mount  is  more  high  than  the  City  of  Jerusalem  is  ;  and, 
therefore,  may  Men  upon  that  Mount  see  many  of  the  Streets 
of  the  City.  And  between  that  Mount  and  the  City  is  but 
the  Vale  of  Jehosaphat  that  is  not  full  large.  And  from  that 
Mount  rose  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ  to  Heaven  upon  Ascension 
Day ;  and  there  sheweth  yet  the  Shape  of  His  left  Foot  in 
the  Stone.  And  there  is  a  Church  where  was  wont  to  be  an 
Abbot  and  Canons  Regular.  And  a  little  thence,  28  Paces, 
is  a  Chapel ;  and  therein  is  the  Stone  on  the  which  our  Lord 
sat,  when  He  preached  the  8  Blessings  and  said  thus  :  "  Beati 
Pauperes  Spiritu : "  and  there  He  taught  His  Disciples  the 
"  Pater  Noster ; "  and  wrote  with  His  Finger  on  a  Stone.  And 
there  nigh  is  a  Church,  Saint  Mary  the  Egyptian,  and  there 
she  lieth  in  a  Tomb.  And  from  thence  toward  the  East,  a  3 
Bow  Shot,  is  Bethphage,  to  the  which  our  Lord  sent  Saint 
Peter  and  Saint  James  to  fetch  the  Ass  upon  the  Palm-Sunday, 
and  rode  upon  that  Ass  to  Jerusalem. 

And  in  coming  down  from  the  Mount  of  Olivet,  toward  the 
East,  is  a  Castle  that  is  clept  Bethany.  And  there  dwelt 
Simon  the  Leper,  and  there  lodged  our  Lord :  and  after  he 
was  baptised  by  the  Apostles  and  was  clept  Julian,  and  was 
made  Bishop ;  and  this  is  the  same  Julian  that  Men  call  to 
for  good  Lodging,  for  our  Lord  lodged  with  him  in  his  House. 
And  in  that  House  our  Lord  forgave  Mary  Magdalene  her 
Sins  :  there  she  washed  His  Feet  with  her  Tears,  and  wiped 


58  MANDEVILLE 

them  with  her  Hair.  And  there  served  Saint  Martha  our 
Lord.  There  our  Lord  raised  Lazarus  from  Death  to  Life, 
that  was  dead  4  Days  and  stank,  that  was  Brother  to  Mary 
Magdalene  and  to  Martha.  And  there  dwelt  also  Mary 
Cleophas.  That  Castle  is  well  a  Mile  long  from  Jerusalem. 
Also  in  coming  down  from  the  Mount  of  Olivet  is  the  Place 
where  our  Lord  wept  upon  Jerusalem.  And  there  beside  is 
the  Place  where  our  Lady  appeared  to  Saint  Thomas  the 
Apostle  after  her  Assumption,  and  gave  him  her  Girdle. 
And  right  nigh  is  the  Stone  where  our  Lord  often-time  sat 
when  He  preached ;  and  upon  that  same  shall  He  sit  at  the 
Day  of  Doom,  right  as  He  Himself  said. 

Also  after  the  Mount  of  Olivet  is  the  Mount  of  Galilee. 
There  assembled  the  Apostles  when  Mary  Magdalene  came 
and  told  them  of  Christ's  Uprising.  And  there,  between  the 
Mount  Olivet  and  the  Mount  Galilee,  is  a  Church,  where  the 
Angel  spoke  to  our  Lady  of  her  Death. 

Also  going  from  Bethany  to  Jericho  was  some-time  a  little 
City,  but  it  is  now  all  destroyed,  and  now  is  there  but  a  little 
Village.  That  City  took  Joshua  by  Miracle  of  God  and  Com- 
mandment of  the  Angel,  and  destroyed  it,  and  cursed  it  and 
all  them  that  built  it  again.  Of  that  city  was  Zaccheus  the 
Dwarf  that  clomb  up  into  the  Sycamore  Tree  to  see  our  Lord, 
because  he  was  so  little  he  might  not  see  Him  for  the  Peo- 
ple. And  of  that  City  was  Rahab  the  common  Woman  that 
escaped  alone  with  them  of  her  Lineage :  and  she  often-time 
refreshed  and  fed  the  Messengers  of  Israel,  and  kept  them 
from  many  great  Perils  of  Death  ;  and,  therefore,  she  had  good 
Reward,  as  Holy  Writ  saith  :  "  Qui  accipit  Prophetam  in 
Nomine  Meo,  Mercedem  Prophetas  accipiet ; "  that  is  to  say, 
"  He  that  taketh  a  Prophet  in  My  Name,  he  shall  take  the  Meed 
of  a  Prophet."  And  so  had  she.  For  she  prophesied  to  the 
Messengers,  saying,  "  Novi  quod  Dominus  tradet  vobis  Ter- 
ram  banc,"  that  is  to  say,  "  I  wot  well,  that  our  Lord  shall 
give  you  this  Land:"  and  so  He  did.  And  after,  Salmon,^ 
Naasson's  Son,  wedded  her,  and  from  that  Time  was  she  a 
worthy  Woman,  and  served  God  well. 

Also  from   Bethany  go   Men   to  the   River   Jordan   by  a 

^  Matt.  i.  5. 


JERUSALEM  FROM   THE  MOUNT  OF  OLIVES. 
Photogravure  from  a  painting  by  Harry  Fenn. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  59 

Mountain  and  through  Desert.  And  it  is  nigh  a  Day's 
Journey  from  Bethany,  toward  the  East,  to  a  great  Hill, 
where  our  Lord  fasted  40  Days.  Upon  that  Hill  the  Enemy 
of  Hell  bare  our  Lord  and  tempted  Him,  and  said,  "  Die  ut 
Lapides  isti  Panes  fiant ; "  that  is  to  say,  "  Say,  that  these 
Stones  be  made  Loaves."  In  that  Place,  upon  the  Hill,  was 
wont  to  be  a  fair  Church  ;  but  it  is  all  destroyed,  so  that  there 
is  now  but  an  Hermitage,  that  a  manner  of  Christian  Men 
hold,  that  be  clept  Georgians,  for  Saint  George  converted 
them.  Upon  that  Hill  dwelt  Abraham  a  great  while,  and 
therefore  Men  call  it  Abraham's  Garden.  And  between  the 
Hill  and  this  Garden  runneth  a  little  Brook  of  Water  that 
was  wont  to  be  bitter ;  but,  by  the  Blessing  of  Elisha  the 
Prophet,  it  became  sweet  and  good  to  drink.  And  at  the  Foot 
of  this  Hill,  toward  the  Plain,  is  a  great  Well,  that  entereth 
into  River  Jordan. 

From  that  Hill  to  Jericho,  that  I  spake  of  before,  is  but 
a  Mile  in  going  toward  River  Jordan.  Also  as  Men  go  to 
Jericho  sat  the  blind  Man  crying,  "  Jesu,  Fili  David,  miserere 
mei;"  that  is  to  say,  "Jesu,  David's  Son,  have  Mercy  on 
me."  And  anon  he  had  his  Sight.  Also,  2  Mile  from  Jeri- 
cho, is  River  Jordan.  And,  an  half  Mile  more  nigh,  is  a  fair 
Church  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist,  where  he  baptised  our 
Lord.  And  there  beside  is  the  House  of  Jeremiah  the 
Prophet. 


CHAPTER   IX 

Of  the  Dead  Sea  ;  and  of  the  River  Jordan.      Of  the  Head  of  Saint 
John  the  Baptist;  and  of  the  Usages  of  the  Samaritans 

AND  from  Jericho,  a  3  Mile,  is  the  Dead  Sea.  About 
that  Sea  groweth  much  Alum  and  Alkatran.^  Between 
Jericho  and  that  Sea  is  the  Land  of  Engeddi.  And 
there  was  wont  to  grow  the  Balm ;  but  Men  make  pull  the 
Branches  thereof  and  bear  them  to  be  grafted  at  Babylon  ;  and 
Men  call  them  yet  Vines  of  Geddi.  At  a  Coast  of  that  Sea,  as 
Men  go  from  Arabia,  is  the  Mount  of  the  Moabites,  where 
there  is  a  Cave,  that  Men  call  Karua.  Upon  that  Hill  Balak, 
the  Son  of  Boaz,  led  Balaam  the  Priest  to  curse  the  People  of 
Israel. 

That  Dead  Sea  parteth  the  Land  of  Ind  and  of  Arabia,  and 
that  Sea  lasteth  from  Soara  (Segor)  unto  Arabia.  The  Water 
of  that  Sea  is  full  bitter  and  salt,  and  if  the  Earth  were 
made  moist  and  wet  with  that  Water,  it  would  never  bear 
Fruit.  And  the  Earth  and  the  Land  changeth  often  its 
Colour.  And  it  casteth  out  of  the  Water  a  Thing  that  Men 
call  Asphalt,  also  great  Pieces,  as  the  Greatness  of  an  Horse, 
every  Day  and  on  all  Sides.  And  from  Jerusalem  to  that  Sea 
is  200  Furlongs.  That  Sea  is  in  Length  580  Furlongs,  and 
in  Breadth  1 50  Furlongs ;  and  it  is  clept  the  Dead  Sea,  for  it 
runneth  nought,  but  is  ever  un-movable.  And  neither  Man, 
Beast,  nor  anything  that  beareth  Life  in  him  may  die  in  that 
Sea.  And  that  hath  been  proved  many  times,  by  Men  that 
have  deserved  to  be  dead  that  have  been  cast  therein  and  left 
there  3  Days  or  4,  and  they  might  never  die  therein  ;  for  it 
receiveth  no  Thing  within  him  that  beareth  Life.  And  no 
Man  may  drink  of  the  Water  for  Bitterness.  And  if  a  Man 
cast  Iron  therein,  it  will  float  above.  And  if  Men  cast  a 
Feather  therein,  it  will  sink  to  the  Bottom,  and  these  be 
Things  against  Nature. 

^  Arabic,  Katran,  Bitumen. 
60 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  6l 

And  also,  the  Cities  there  were  lost  because  of  Sin.  And 
there  beside  grow  Trees  that  bear  full  fair  Apples,  and  fair  of 
Colour  to  behold ;  but  whoso  breaketh  them  or  cutteth  them 
in  2,  he  shall  find  within  them  Coals  and  Cinders,  in  Token  that 
by  the  Wrath  of  God  the  Cities  and  the  Land  were  burnt  and 
sunk  into  Hell.  Some  Men  call  that  Sea  the  Lakeof  Asafcetida; 
some,  the  River  of  Devils ;  and  some  the  River  that  is  ever 
stinking.  And  into  that  Sea  sunk  the  5  Cities  by  the  Wrath  of 
God ;  that  is  to  say,  Sodom,  Gomorrah,  Admah,  Zeboim,  and 
Zoar,  for  the  abominable  Sin  that  reigned  in  them.  But  Zoar, 
by  the  Prayer  of  Lot,  was  saved  and  kept  a  great  while,  for  it 
was  set  upon  a  Hill ;  and  some  Part  yet  sheweth  thereof  above 
the  Water,  and  Men  may  see  the  Walls  when  it  is  fair  Weather 
and  clear.  In  that  City  Lot  dwelt  a  little  while ;  and  there  he 
was  made  drunk  by  his  Daughters,  and  lay  with  them,  and 
engendered  of  them  Moab  and  Ammon.  And  the  Cause  for 
which  his  Daughters  made  him  drunk  to  lie  with  him  was  this  : 
because  they  saw  no  Man  about  them,  but  only  their  Father, 
and  therefore  they  trowed  that  God  had  destroyed  all  the 
World  as  He  had  done  the  Cities,  as  He  had  done  before  by 
Noah's  Flood.  And  therefore  they  v/ould  lie  with  their  Father 
to  have  Issue,  and  to  replenish  the  World  again  with  People 
to  restore  the  World  again  by  them  ;  for  they  trowed  that 
there  had  been  no  more  Men  in  all  the  World ;  and  if  their 
Father  had  not  been  drunk,  he  had  not  lain  with  them. 

And  the  Hill  above  Zoar  Men  called  it  then  Edom  and  after 
Men  called  it  Seir,  and  after  Idumea.  Also  at  the  right  Side 
of  that  Dead  Sea,  dwelleth  yet  the  Wife  of  Lot  in  Likeness  of 
a  salt  Stone ;  for  that  she  looked  behind  her  when  the  Cities 
sunk  into  Hell. 

This  Lot  was  Haran's  Son,  that  was  Brother  to  Abraham  ; 
and  Sarah,  Abraham's  Wife,  and  Milcah,  Nahor's  Wife,  were 
Sisters  to  the  said  Lot.  And  the  same  Sarah  was  of  Age  90 
Year  when  Isaac  her  Son  was  gotten  on  her.  And  Abraham 
had  another  Son  Ishmael  that  he  gat  upon  Hagar  his  Hand- 
maid. And  when  Isaac  his  Son  was  8  Days  old,  Abraham  his 
Father  made  him  be  circumcised,  and  Ishmael  with  him  that 
was  14  Year  old  :  wherefore  the  Jews  that  come  of  Isaac's  Line 
be  circumcised  the  8th  Day,  and  the  Saracens  that  come  of 
Ishmael's  Line  be  circumcised  when  they  be  14  Year  of  Age. 


62  MANDEVILLE 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  the  River  Jordan  runneth 
within  the  Dead  Sea,  where  it  dieth,  for  it  runneth  no  further 
more,  at  a  Place  that  is  a  Mile  from  the  Church  of  Saint  John 
the  Baptist  toward  the  West,  a  little  beneath  the  Place  where 
that  Christian  Men  bathe  them  commonly.  And  a  Mile  from 
River  Jordan  is  the  River  of  Jabbok,  the  which  Jacob  passed 
over  when  he  came  from  Mesopotamia.  This  River  Jordan  is 
no  great  River,  but  it  is  plenteous  of  good  Fish  ;  and  it  cometh 
out  of  the  Hill  of  Lebanon  by  2  Wells  that  be  clept  Jor  and 
Dan,  and  of  the  2  Wells  hath  it  the  Name.  And  it  passeth 
by  a  Lake  that  is  clept  Maron  (Merom).  And  after  it  passeth 
by  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  and  passeth  under  the  Hills  of  Gilboa ; 
and  there  is  a  full  fair  Vale,  both  on  that  one  Side  and  on  that 
other  of  the  same  River.  And  Men  go  on  the  Hills  of  Leb- 
anon, all  their  Length  unto  the  Desert  of  Pharan  ;  and  those 
Hills  part  the  Kingdom  of  Syria  and  the  Country  of  Phoenicia ; 
and  upon  those  Hills  grow  Trees  of  Cedar  that  be  full  high, 
and  they  bear  long  Apples,  and  as  great  as  a  Man's  Head. 

And  also  this  River  Jordan  parteth  the  Land  of  Galilee  and 
the  Land  of  Idumea  and  the  Land  of  Betron  ( .-*  Arabia  Petrea), 
and  runneth  under  Earth  a  great  Way  unto  a  fair  Plain  and 
great  that  is  clept  "  Meldan  "  in  Sarmois  ;  that  is  to  say.  Fair 
or  Market  in  their  Language,  because  that  there  are  often 
Fairs  in  that  Plain.  And  there  becometh  the  Water  great  and 
large ;.  and  in  that  Plain  is  the  Tomb  of  Job. 

And  in  that  River  Jordan  above-said  was  our  Lord  baptised 
of  Saint  John,  and  the  voice  of  God  the  Father  was  heard  say- 
ing, "  Hie  est  Filius  Mens  dilectus,  &c.,"  that  is  to  say, 
"  This  is  My  beloved  Son,  in  the  which  I  am  well  pleased ; 
hear  Him  ! "  and  the  Holy  Ghost  alighted  upon  him  in  Like- 
ness of  a  Culver ;  and  so  at  His  baptising  was  all  the  Holy 
Trinity. 

And  through  that  River  passed  the  Children  of  Israel,  all 
dry  Feet ;  and  they  put  Stones  there  in  the  middle  Place,  in 
Token  of  the  Miracle  that  the  Water  withdrew  him  so.  Also 
in  that  River  Jordan  Naaman  of  Syria  bathed  him,  that  was  full 
rich,  but  he  was  leprous ;  and  there  anon  he  took  his  Heal. 

About  the  River  Jordan  be  many  Churches  where  that  many 
Christian  Men  dwelled.  And  nigh  thereto  is  the  City  of  Hay 
(Hazor)  that  Joshua  assailed  and  took.     Also  beyond  the  River 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  63 

Jordan  is  the  Vale  of  Mamre,  and  that  is  a  full  fair  Vale.  Also 
upon  the  Hill  that  I  spake  of  before,  where  our  Lord  fasted  40 
Days,  a  2  Mile  long  from  Galilee,  is  a  fair  Hill  and  an  high, 
where  the  Enemy  the  Fiend  bare  our  Lord  the  3rd  Time  to 
tempt  Him,  and  shewed  Him  all  the  Regions  of  the  World 
and  said,  "  Hec  omnia  Tibi  dabo,  si  cadens  adoraveris  me ; " 
that  is  to  say,  "  All  this  shall  I  give  Thee,  if  Thou  fall  and 
worship  me." 

Also  from  the  Dead  Sea  going  Eastv/ard,  out  of  the 
Borders  of  the  Holy  Land  that  is  clept  the  Land  of  Promise, 
is  a  strong  Castle  and  a  fair,  on  an  Hill  that  is  called  "  Carak  " 
in  Sarmois ;  that  is  to  say.  Royal.  That  Castle  made  King 
Baldwin,  that  was  King  of  France,  when  he  had  conquered 
that  Land,  and  put  it  in  Christian  Men's  Hands  to  keep  that 
Country ;  and  for  that  Cause  was  it  clept  the  Mount  Royal. 
And  under  it  there  is  a  Town  that  is  called  Sobach,  and 
there,  all  about,  dwell  Christian  Men,  under  Tribute. 

From  thence  go  Men  to  Nazareth,  of  the  which  our  Lord 
beareth  the  Surname.  And  from  thence  Men  go  by  the 
Province  of  Galilee  by  Ramath,  by  Sothim  and  by  the  high 
Hill  of  Ephraim,  where  Elkanah  and  Hannah  the  Mother 
of  Samuel  the  Prophet  dwelled.  There  was  born  this 
Prophet ;  and,  after  his  Death,  he  was  buried  at  Mount  Joy, 
as  I  have  said  to  you  before. 

And  then  Men  go  to  Shiloh,  where  the  Ark  of  God  with 
the  Relics  were  kept  long  time  under  Eli  the  Prophet.  There 
made  the  People  of  Hebron  Sacrifice  to  our  Lord,  and  there 
they  yielded  up  their  Vows.  And  there  spake  God  first  to 
Samuel,  and  shewed  him  the  Mutation  of  the  Order  of  Priest- 
hood, and  the  Mystery  of  the  Sacrament.  And  right  nigh, 
on  the  left  Side,  is  Gibeon  and  Ramah  and  Benjamin,  of  the 
which  Holy  Writ  speaketh. 

And  after  Men  go  to  Sichem,  some-time  clept  Sichar ; 
and  that  is  in  the  Province  of  Samaritans.  And  there  is 
a  full  fair  Vale  and  a  fructuous  ;  and  there  is  a  fair  City  and 
a  good  that  Men  call  Neople  (Neapolis).  And  from  thence 
is  a  Day's  Journey  to  Jerusalem.  And  there  is  the  Well, 
where  our  Lord  spake  to  the  Woman  of  Samaria.  And  there 
was  wont  to  be  a  Church,  but  it  is  beaten  down.  Beside 
that  Well  King  Rehoboam  had  made  2  Calves  of  Gold  and 


64  MANDEVILLE 

made  them  to  be  worshipped,  and  put  the  one  at  Dan  and 
the  other  at  Bethel.  And  a  Mile  from  Sichar  is  the  City  of 
Luz ;  and  in  that  City  dwelt  Abraham  a  certain  Time. 
Sichem  is  a  lo  Mile  from  Jerusalem,  and  it  is  clept  Neople  ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  New  City.  And  nigh  beside  is  the  Tomb 
of  Joseph  the  Son  of  Jacob  that  governed  Egypt :  for  the 
Jews  bare  his  Bones  from  Egypt  and  buried  them  there,  and 
thither  go  the  Jews  often-time  in  Pilgrimage  with  great 
Devotion.  In  that  City  was  Dinah,  Jacob's  Daughter,  rav- 
ished, for  whom  her  Brethren  slew  many  Persons  and  did 
many  Harms  to  the  City.  And  there  beside  is  the  Hill  of 
Gerizim,  where  the  Saracens  make  their  Sacrifice :  in  that 
Hill  would  Abraham  have  sacrificed  his  Son  Isaac.  And 
there  beside  is  the  Vale  of  Dotaim.  And  there  is  the  Cis- 
tern, where  Joseph,  which  they  sold,  was  cast  in  of  his  Breth- 
ren ;  and  that  is  a  2  Mile  from  Sichar. 

From  thence  go  Men  to  Samaria  that  Men  call  now  Sebast ; 
and  that  is  the  chief  City  of  that  Country,  and  it  sits  between 
Hills  as  Jerusalem  doth.  In  that  City  were  the  Sittings  of 
the  12  Tribes  of  Israel ;  but  the  City  is  not  now  so  great  as 
it  was  wont  to  be.  There  was  buried  Saint  John  the  Baptist 
between  2  Prophets,  Elisha  and  Abdon ;  but  he  was  be- 
headed in  the  Castle  of  Macharim  (Machaerus)  beside  the 
Dead  Sea,  and  after  he  was  translated  by  his  Disciples,  and 
buried  at  Samaria.  And  there  Julian  the  Apostate  had  him 
digged  up  and  his  Bones  burnt  (for  he  was  at  that  time 
Emperor)  and  the  Ashes  winnowed  in  the  Wind.  But  the 
Finger  that  shewed  our  Lord,  saying,  "  Ecce  Agnus  Dei,"  that 
is  to  say,  "  Lo !  the  Lamb  of  God,"  would  never  burn,  but  is 
all  whole  ;  that  Finger  Saint  Thecla,  the  holy  Virgin,  had  born 
unto  the  Hill  of  Sebast ;  and  there  make  Men  great  Feast. 

There  was  wont  to  be  the  Head  of  Saint  John  Baptist, 
enclosed  in  the  Wall.  But  the  Emperor  Theodosius  had  it 
drawn  out,  and  found  it  wrapped  in  a  little  Cloth,  all  bloody ; 
and  so  he  had  it  born  to  Constantinople.  And  the  hinder 
Part  of  the  Head  is  yet  at  Constantinople ;  and  the  fore  Part 
of  the  Head,  to  under  the  Chin,  is  at  Rome  under  the  Church 
of  Saint  Silvester,  where  be  Nuns  Cordelers :  and  it  is  yet  all 
broiled,  as  though  it  were  half-burnt,  for  the  Emperor  Julian 
above-said,  of  his  Cursedness  and  Malice,  had  that  Part  burnt 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  6$ 

with  the  other  Bones,  and  it  sheweth  yet ;  and  this  Thing 
hath  been  proved  both  by  Popes  and  by  Emperors.  And  the 
Jaws  beneath,  that  hold  to  the  Chin,  and  a  Part  of  the  Ashes 
and  the  Platter  that  the  Head  was  laid  in,  when  it  was  smitten 
off,  are  at  Genoa ;  and  the  Genoese  make  for  it  great  Feast, 
and  so  do  the  Saracens  also.  And  some  Men  say  that  the 
Head  of  Saint  John  is  at  Amiens  in  Picardy ;  and  other  Men 
say  that  it  is  the  Head  of  Saint  John  the  Bishop.  I  wot 
never,  but  God  knoweth  ;  but  in  whateverwise  wise  Men  wor- 
ship it,  the  blessed  Saint  John  holds  himself  a-paid. 

From  this  City  of  Sebast  unto  Jerusalem  is  12  Mile.  And 
between  the  Hills  of  that  Country  there  is  a  Well  that  4  Times 
in  the  Year  changeth  his  Colour,  sometime  green,  sometime 
red,  sometime  clear  and  sometime  troubled ;  and  Men  call 
that  Well,  Job.  And  the  Folk  of  that  Country,  that  Men  call 
Samaritans,  were  converted  and  baptized  by  the  Apostles ; 
but  they  hold  not  well  their  Doctrine,  and  always  they  hold 
Laws  by  themselves,  varying  from  Christian  Men,  from  Sara- 
cens, Jews  and  Paynims.  And  the  Samaritans  believe  in  one 
God,  and  they  say  well  that  there  is  but  one  God  that  formed 
all,  and  All  shall  doom  ;  and  they  hold  the  Bible  according  to 
the  Letter,  and  they  use  the  Psalter  as  the  Jews  do.  And 
they  say  that  they  be  the  right  Sons  of  God.  And,  among  all 
other  Folk,  they  say  that  they  be  best  beloved  of  God,  and  that 
to  them  belongeth  the  Heritage  that  God  plighted  to  His 
beloved  Children.  And  they  have  also  different  Clothing  and 
Shape  to  look  on  than  other  Folk  have  ;  for  they  wrap  their 
Heads  in  red  Linen  Cloth,  in  Difference  from  others.  And 
the  Saracens  wrap  their  Heads  in  white  Linen  Cloth  ;  and  the 
Christian  Men,  that  dwell  in  the  Country,  wrap  them  in  blue 
of  Ind  ;  and  the  Jews  in  yellow  Cloth.  In  that  Country  dwell 
many  of  the  Jews,  paying  Tribute  as  Christian  Men  do. 

And  if  ye  will  know  the  Letters  that  the  Jews  use  they  be 
such,  and  the  Names  be  as  they  call  them  here  written  above, 
in  manner  of  A.  B.  C. 


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CHAPTER   X 

Of  the  Province  of  Galilee,  and  where  Antichrist  shall  be  born.  Of 
Nazareth.  Of  the  age  of  Our  Lady.  Of  the  Day  of  Doom. 
And  of  the  Customs  of  the  Jacobites  and  the  Syrians  ;  and  of  the 
Usages  of  the  Georgians 

FROM  this  Country  of  the  Samaritans  that  I  have  spoken 
of  before  go  Men  to  the  Plains  of  Galilee,  and  Men 
leave  the  Hills  on  the  one  Side. 
And  Galilee  is  one  of  the  Provinces  of  the  Holy  Land,  and 
in  that  Province  is  the  City  of  Nain  —  and  Capernaum,  and 
Chorazin  and  Bethsaida.  In  this  Bethsaida  were  Saint  Peter 
and  Saint  Andrew  born.  And  thence,  a  4  Mile,  is  Chorazin. 
And  5  Mile  from  Chorazin  is  the  City  of  Kedar  whereof  the 
Psalter  speaketh  :  "  Et  habitavi  cum  Habitantibus  Kedar  ;  " 
that  is  to  say,  "And  I  have  dwelled  with  the  Men  dwelling  in 
Kedar."  In  Chorazin  shall  Antichrist  be  born,  as  some  Men 
say.  And  other  Men  say  he  shall  be  born  in  Babylon  ;  for  the 
Prophet  saith  :  "  De  Babilonia  Coluber  exiet,  qui  totum  Mun- 
dum  devorabit ;"  that  is  to  say,  "Out  of  Babylon  shall  come 
a  Worm  that  shall  devour  all  the  World."  This  Antichrist 
shall  be  nourished  in  Bethsaida,  and  he  shall  reign  in  Caper- 
naum :  and  therefore  saith  Holy  Writ :  "  Vae  tibi,  Chorazin  ! 
Vae  tibi  Bethsaida  !  Vae  tibi  Capernaum  ! "  that  is  to  say,  "  Woe 
be  to  thee,  Chorazin  !  Woe  to  thee,  Bethsaida  !  Woe  to  thee, 
Capernaum  ! "  And  all  these  Towns  be  in  the  Land  of  Galilee. 
And  also  Cana  of  Galilee  is  4  Mile  from  Nazareth  :  of  that  City 
was  Simon  the  Canaanite  and  his  Wife  Canee,  of  the  which 
the  Holy  Evangelist  speaketh  :  there  did  our  Lord  the  first 
Miracle  at  the  Wedding,  when  He  turned  Water  into  Wine. 

And  in  the  End  of  Galilee,  at  the  Hills,  was  the  Ark  of 
God  taken  ;  and  on  the  other  Side  is  the  Mount  Hendor  or 
Hermon.  And,  thereabout,  goeth  the  Brook  of  Kishon  ;  and 
there  beside  Barak  that  was  Abimelech's  ^  Son  with  Deborah 

*  Should  be  Abinoam. 
66 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  67 

the  Prophetess  overcame  the  Host  of  Idumea,  when  Sisera 
the  King  was  slain  of  Jael  the  Wife  of  Heber.  And  Gideon  ^ 
chased  beyond  the  River  Jordan,  by  Strength  of  Sword,  Zeeb 
and  Zebah  and  Zalmunna,  and  there  he  slew  them.  Also  a  5 
Mile  from  Nain  is  the  City  of  Jezreel  that  sometime  was  clept 
Zarim,  of  the  which  City  Jezabel,  the  cursed  Queen,  was  Lady 
and  Queen,  that  took  away  the  Vine  of  Naboth  by  her 
Strength.  Fast  by  that  City  is  the  Field  Megiddo,  in  the 
which  the  King  Joram  was  slain  of  the  King  of  Samaria  and 
after  was  translated  and  buried  in  the  Mount  Sion. 

And  a  Mile  from  Jezreel  be  the  Hills  of  Gilboa,  where  Saul 
and  Jonathan,  that  were  so  fair,  died  ;  wherefore  David  cursed 
them,  as  Holy  Writ  saith  :  "Montes  Gilboae,  nee  Ros  nee  Plu- 
via,"  &c. ;  that  is  to  say,  "  Ye  Hills  of  Gilboa,  neither  Dew  nor 
Rain  come  upon  you."  And  a  Mile  from  the  Hills  of  Gilboa 
toward  the  East  is  the  City  of  Cyropolis,  that  was  clept  before 
Bethshan  ;  and  upon  the  Walls  of  that  City  was  the  Head  of 
Saul  hanged. 

After  go  Men  by  the  Hill  beside  the  Plains  of  Galilee  unto 
Nazareth,  where  was  wont  to  be  a  great  City  and  a  fair ;  but 
now  there  is  but  a  little  Village,  and  Houses  abroad  here  and 
there.  And  it  is  not  walled.  And  it  sits  in  a  little  Val- 
ley, and  there  be  Hills  all  about.  There  was  our  Lady  born, 
but  she  was  begotten  at  Jerusalem.  And  because  that  our 
Lady  was  born  at  Nazareth,  therefore  bare  our  Lord  this  Sur- 
name of  that  Town.  There  took  Joseph  our  Lady  to  Wife, 
when  she  was  14  Year  of  Age.  And  there  Gabriel  greet  our 
Lady,  saying,  "Ave  Gratia  plena,  Dominus  tecum  !  "  that  is 
to  say,  "  Hail,  full  of  Grace,  our  Lord  is  with  thee !  "  And  this 
Salutation  was  done  on  the  Place  of  a  great  Altar  of  a  fair 
Church  that  was  wont  to  be  sometime,  but  it  is  now  all  down, 
and  Men  have  made  a  little  Receptacle,  beside  a  Pillar  of  that 
Church,  to  receive  the  Offerings  of  Pilgrims.  And  the  Sara- 
cens keep  that  Place  full  dearly,  for  the  Profit  that  they  have 
thereof.  And  they  be  full  wicked  Saracens  and  cruel,  and 
more  despiteful  than  in  any  other  Place,  and  have  destroyed 
all  the  Churches.  There  nigh  is  Gabriel's  Well,  where  our 
Lord  was  wont  to  bathe  Him,  when  He  was  young,  and  from 
that  Well  bare  the  Water  often-time  to  His  Mother.  And  in 
1  The  name  of  Gideon  is  omitted  in  the  originals. 


68  MANDEVILLE 

that  Well  she  washed  often-time  the  Clothes  of  her  Son  Jesu 
Christ.  And  from  Jerusalem  unto  thither  is  3  Days'  Journey. 
At  Nazareth  was  our  Lord  nourished,  Nazareth  is  as  much 
as  to  say,  "  Flower  of  the  Garden  ; "  and  by  good  Reason  may 
it  be  clept  Flower,  for  there  was  nourished  the  Flower  of 
Life  that  was  Christ  Jesu. 

And  2  Mile  from  Nazareth  is  the  City  of  Sephor,  by  the 
Way  that  goeth  from  Nazareth  to  Acre.  And  an  half  Mile 
from  Nazareth  is  the  Leap  of  our  Lord.  For  the  Jews  led 
Him  upon  an  high  Rock  to  make  Him  leap  down,  and  to 
have  slain  Him  ;  but  Jesu  passed  amongst  them,  and  leapt 
upon  another  Rock,  and  the  Steps  of  His  Feet  be  yet  in  the 
Rock,  where  He  alighted.  And  therefore  say  some  Men, 
when  they  dread  them  of  Thieves  on  any  Way,  or  of  Enemies, 
"Jesus  autem  transiens  per  Medium  illorum  ibat;"  that  is 
to  say,  "Jesus,  forsooth,  passing  by  the  Midst  of  them,  went :" 
in  Token  and  Mind,  that  as  our  Lord  passed  through,  out  of 
the  Jews'  Cruelty,  and  escaped  safely  from  them,  so  surely 
Men  pass  the  Peril  of  Thieves.  And  then  say  Men  2  Verses 
of  the  Psalter  3  Times  :  "  Irruat  super  eos  Formido  et  Pavor, 
in  magnitudine  Brachii  Tui,  Domine.  Fiant  immobiles, 
quasi  Lapis,  donee  pertranseat  Populus  Tuus,  Domine ;  donee 
pertranseat  Populus  Tuus  iste,  quem  possedisti;"  ("May 
Fear  and  Dread  fall  upon  them  ;  by  the  Greatness  of  Thine 
Arm,  O  Lord  let  them  be  still  as  a  Stone ;  till  Thy  People 
pass  over,  O  Lord,  till  thy  People  pass  over,  which  Thou  hast 
purchased  ;  ")  and  then  may  Men  pass  without  Peril. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  our  Lady  had  Child  when 
,  she  was    15  Year  old.      And   she  was  conversant  with  her 

Son  33  Year  and  3  Months.     And  after  the  Passion  of  our 
Lord  she  lived  24  Year. 

Also  from  Nazareth  Men  go  to  the  Mount  Tabor ;  and 
that  is  a  4  Mile.  And  it  is  a  full  fair  Hill  and  well  high, 
where  was  wont  to  be  a  Town  and  many  Churches  ;  but  they 
be  all  destroyed.  But  there  is  yet  a  Place  that  Men  call  the 
School  of  God,  where  He  was  wont  to  teach  His  Disciples, 
and  told  them  the  Privities  of  Heaven.  And,  at  the  Foot 
of  that  Hill,  Melchisadech  that  was  King  of  Salem,  in  the 
Turning  of  that  Hill  met  Abraham  in  coming  again  from  the 
Battle,  when  he  had  slain  Abimalech,     And  this  Melchisa- 


VOYAGES  AND   TRAVELS  69 

dech  was  both  King  and  Priest  of  Salem  that  now  is  clept 
Jerusalem.  In  that  Hill  Tabor  our  Lord  transfigured  Him 
before  Saint  Peter,  Saint  John  and  Saint  James ;  and  there 
they  saw,  ghostly,  Moses  and  Elias  the  Prophets  beside 
them.  And  therefore  said  Saint  Peter,  "Domine,  bonum 
est  nos  hie  esse  ;  faciamus  tria  Tabernacula  ;  "  that  is  to  say, 
"Lord,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here;  make  we  here  3  Dwell- 
ing-places." And  there  heard  they  a  Voice  of  the  Father 
that  said,  "  Hie  est  Filius  Mens  dilectus,  in  Quo  Mihi  bene 
complacui,"  ("This  is  My  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased.")  And  our  Lord  forbid  them  that  they  should  tell 
that  Vision  till  that  He  were  risen  from  Death  to  Life. 

On  that  Hill  and  in  that  same  Place,  at  the  Day  of  Doom, 
4  Angels  with  4  Trumpets  shall  blow  and  raise  all  Men  that 
have  suffered  Death,  since  that  the  World  was  formed,  from 
Death  to  Life ;  and  they  shall  come  in  Body  and  Soul  in 
Judgment,  before  the  Face  of  our  Lord  in  the  Vale  of  Jehosa- 
phat.  And  the  Doom  shall  be  on  Easter  Day,  such  Time  as 
our  Lord  arose.  And  the  Doom  shall  begin,  such  Hour  as 
our  Lord  descended  to  Hell  and  despoiled  it.  For  at  such 
Hour  shall  He  despoil  the  World  and  lead  His  chosen  to 
Bliss  ;  and  the  others  shall  He  condemn  to  perpetual  Pains. 
And  then  shall  every  Man  have  after  his  Desert,  either  Good 
or  Evil,  but  and  if  the  Mercy  of  God  passeth  His  Righteous- 
ness. 

Also  a  Mile  from  Mount  Tabor  is  the  Mount  Hermon  ; 
and  there  was  the  City  of  Nain.  Before  the  Gate  of  that 
City  raised  our  Lord  the  Son  of  Widow,  that  had  no  more 
Children.  Also  3  Mile  from  Nazareth  is  the  Castle  Safra, 
of  the  which  the  Sons  of  Zebedee  and  the  sons  of  Alpheus 
were.  Also  a  3  Mile  from  Nazareth  is  the  Mount  Cain,  and 
under  that  is  a  Well ;  and  beside  that  Well  Lamech,  Noah's 
Father,  slew  Cain  with  an  Arrow.  For  this  Cain  went 
through  Briars  and  Bushes  as  a  wild  Beast ;  and  he  had  lived 
from  the  Time  of  Adam  his  Father  unto  the  Time  of  Noah, 
and  so  he  lived  nigh  to  2000  Year.  And  this  Lamech  was 
all  blind  for  Eld. 

From  Safra  Men  go  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee  and  to  the  City 
of  Tiberias,  that  sits  upon  the  same  Sea.  And  albeit  that 
Men  call  it  a  Sea,  yet  it  is  neither  Sea  nor  Arm  of  the  Sea. 


70  MANDEVILLE 

For  it  is  but  a  Tank  of  fresh  Water  that  is  in  Length  loo 
Furlongs,  and  of  Breadth  40  Furlongs,  and  hath  within  him 
great  Plenty  of  good  Fish,  and  runneth  into  River  Jordan, 
The  City  is  not  full  great,  but  it  hath  good  Baths  within  him. 

And  there,  as  the  River  Jordan  passeth  from  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  is  a  great  Bridge,  where  men  pass  from  the  Land 
of  Promise  to  the  Land  of  Bashan  and  the  Land  of  Gennes- 
aret,  that  be  about  the  River  Jordan  and  the  Beginning  of 
the  Sea  of  Tiberias.  And  from  thence  Men  may  go  to 
Damascus,  in  3  Days,  by  the  Kingdom  of  Traconitis,  the 
which  Kingdom  lasteth  from  Mount  Hermon  to  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  or  to  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  or  to  the  Sea  of  Gennesa- 
ret ;  and  all  is  one  Sea,  and  this  the  Tank  that  I  have  told 
you  of,  but  it  changeth  thus  the  Name  for  the  Names  of  the 
Cities  that  sit  beside  him. 

Upon  that  Sea  went  our  Lord  dry  Feet ;  and  there  He 
took  up  Saint  Peter,  when  he  began  to  drown  within  the  Sea, 
and  said  to  him,  "  Modice  Fidei,  quare  dubitasti  .-* "  ("O  thou 
of  little  Faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt?")  And  after 
His  resurrection  our  Lord  appeared  on  that  Sea  to  His 
Disciples  and  bade  them  fish,  and  filled  all  the  Net  full  of 
great  Fishes.  In  that  Sea  rowed  our  Lord  often-time ;  and 
there  He  called  to  Him  Saint  Peter,  Saint  Andrew,  and 
Saint  James  and  Saint  John,  the  Sons  of  Zebedee. 

In  that  City  of  Tiberias  is  the  Table  upon  the  which  our 
Lord  ate  with  His  Disciples  after  His  Resurrection  ;  and 
they  knew  Him  in  breaking  of  Bread,  as  the  Gospel  saith  : 
"  Et  cognoverunt  Eum  in  Fractione  Panis."  And  nigh  that 
City  of  Tiberias  is  the  Hill,  where  our  Lord  fed  5000  Per- 
sons with  5  Barley  Loaves  and  2  Fishes. 

In  that  City  a  Man  cast  a  burning  Dart  in  Wrath  after 
our  Lord.  And  the  Head  smote  into  the  Earth  and  waxed 
green  ;  and  it  grew  to  a  big  Tree.  And  it  groweth  yet,  and 
the  Bark  thereof  is  all  like  Coals. 

Also  in  the  Head  of  that  Sea  of  Galilee,  toward  the  Sep- 
tentrion  (or  South)  is  a  strong  Castle  and  an  high  that  is 
hight  Saphor.  And  fast  beside  it  is  Capernaum.  Within 
the  Land  of  Promise  is  not  so  strong  a  Castle.  And  there  is 
a  good  Town  beneath  that  is  clept  Saphor.  In  that  Castle 
Saint  Anne  our  Lady's  Mother  was  born.    And  there  beneath, 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  71 

was  the  Centurion's  House.  That  Country  is  clept  the  Gali- 
lee of  Folk  (or  the  Gentiles)  that  were  taken  to  Tribute  of 
Zebulon  and  Napthali. 

And  in  again  coming  from  that  Castle,  a  30  Mile,  is  the 
City  of  Dan  that  some-time  was  clept  Belinas  or  Cesarea 
Philippi;  that  sits  at  the  Foot  of  the  Mount  of  Lebanon, 
where  the  River  Jordan  beginneth.  There  beginneth  the 
Land  of  Promise  and  endureth  unto  Beersheba  in  Length, 
going  from  North  to  South.  And  it  containeth  well  a  i8c 
Miles.  And  of  Breadth,  that  is  to  say,  from  Jericho  unto 
Jaffa,  it  containeth  a  40  Mile  of  Lombardy,  or  of  our  Coun- 
try, that  be  also  little  Miles ;  these  be  not  Miles  of  Gascony 
nor  of  the  Province  of  Germany,  where  be  great  Miles.  And 
wit  ye  well,  that  the  Land  of  Promise  is  in  Syria.  For  the 
Realm  of  Syria  endureth  from  the  Deserts  of  Arabia  unto 
Cilicia,  and  that  is  Armenia  the  Great ;  that  is  to  say,  from 
the  South  to  the  North.  And,  from  the  East  to  the  West, 
it  endureth  from  the  great  Deserts  of  Arabia  unto  the  West 
Sea.  But  in  that  Realm  of  Syria  is  the  Kingdom  of  Judea 
and  many  other  Provinces,  as  Palestine,  Galilee,  Little  Cilicia, 
and  many  others. 

In  that  Country  and  other  Countries  beyond  they  have  a 
Custom,  when  they  shall  use  War,  and  when  Men  hold  Siege 
about  a  City  or  Castle,  and  they  within  dare  not  send  out 
Messengers  with  Letters  from  Lord  to  Lord  to  ask  Succour, 
they  make  their  Letters  and  bind  them  to  the  Neck  of  a 
Culver,  and  let  the  Culver  flee.  And  the  Culvers  be  so 
taught,  that  they  flee  with  those  Letters  to  the  very  Place 
that  Men  would  send  them  to.  For  the  Culvers  be  nour- 
ished in  those  Places  where  they  be  sent  to,  and  they  send 
them  thus,  to  bear  their  Letters.  And  the  Culvers  return 
again  where-to  they  be  nourished  ;  and  so  they  do  commonly. 

And  ye  shall  understand  that  amongst  the  Saracens,  in 
one  Part  and  another,  dwell  many  Christian  Men  of  many 
Manners  and  diverse  Names.  And  all  be  baptized  and  have 
diverse  Laws  and  diverse  Customs.  But  all  believe  in  God 
the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  always  fail 
they  in  some  Articles  of  our  Faith.  Some  of  these  be  clept 
Jacobites,  for  Saint  James  converted  them  and  Saint  John 
baptized  Ihem.     They  say  that  a  Man  shall  make  his  Confes- 


72  MANDEVILLE 

sion  only  to  God,  and  not  to  a  Man  ;  for  only  to  Him  should 
Man  yield  Him  guilty  of  all  that  he  hath  misdone.  Neither 
God  ordained,  nor  ever  devised,  nor  the  Prophet  either,  that  a 
Man  should  shrive  him  to  another,  as  they  say,  but  only  to 
God.  As  Moses  v^^riteth  in  the  Bible,  and  as  David  saith  in 
the  Psalter  Book :  "  Confitebor  Tibi,  Domine,  in  toto  Corde 
meo,"  ("  I  v^^ill  confess  to  Thee,  O  Lord,  in  my  whole  Heart ;  ") 
and,  "  Delictum  meum  Tibi  cognitum  feci,"  ("  I  acknowledge 
my  Sin  unto  Thee  ;  ")  and,  "  Deus  meus  es  Tu,  et  confitebor 
Tibi,"  ("Thou  art  my  God,  and  I  will  confess  unto  Thee;") 
and,  "  Quoniam  Cogitatio  Hominis  confitebitur  Tibi,"  ("Since 
the  Thoughts  of  Man  shall  confess  to  Thee ; ")  &c.  For 
they  know  all  the  Bible  and  the  Psalter.  And  therefore 
quote  they  so  the  Letter.  But  they  quote  not  the  Authori- 
ties thus  in  Latin,  but  in  their  Language  full  openly,  and 
say  well,  that  David  and  other  Prophets  say  it. 

Nevertheless,  Saint  Augustin  and  Gregory  say  thus:  — 
Augustinus :  *'  Qui  Scelera  sua  cogitat,  et  conversus  f uerit, 
Veniam  sibi  credat,"  ("  Let  him  that  would  consider  his  Sins, 
and  would  be  converted,  believe  that  for  him  there  is  For- 
giveness.") Gregorius :  "  Dominus  potius  Mentem  quam 
Verba  respicit,"  ("  The  Lord  looketh  rather  on  the  Purpose 
than  on  the  Letter.")  And  Saint  Hillary  saith  :  "  Longorum 
Temporum  Crimina,  in  Ictu  Oculi  pereunt,  si  Cordis  nata 
fuerit  Compunctio,"  ("  Sins  of  long  Duration  perish  in  the 
Twinkling  of  an  Eye,  if  Repentance  be  born  of  the  Heart.") 
And  before  such  Authorities  they  say,  that  only  to  God  shall 
a  Man  acknowledge  his  Defaults,  yielding  himself  guilty  and 
crying  Him  Mercy,  and  vowing  to  Him  to  amend  his  Ways. 
And  therefore,  when  they  will  shrive  them,  they  take  Fire  and 
set  it  beside  them,  and  cast  therein  Powder  of  Frankincense ; 
and  in  the  Smoke  thereof  they  shrive  them  to  God,  and  cry 
Him  Mercy.  But  Sooth  it  is,  that  this  Confession  was  first 
and  natural.  But  Saint  Peter  the  Apostle,  and  they  that 
came  after  him,  have  ordained  to  make  their  Confession  to 
Man,  and  by  good  Reason  ;  for  they  perceived  well  that  no 
Sickness  was  curable  by  good  Medecine  to  lay  thereto,  but  if 
Men  knew  the  Nature  of  the  Malady ;  and  also  no  Man  may 
give  suitable  Medecine,  but  if  he  know  the  Quality  of  the 
Deed.     For  one   Sin  may  be  greater  in  one   Man  than  in 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  73 

another;  and  therefore  it  behoveth  him  that  he  know  the 
Kind  of  the  Deed,  and  thereupon  to  give  him  Penance. 

There  be  other,  that  be  clept  Syrians  ;  and  they  hold  the 
Belief  held  amongst  us,  and  of  them  of  Greece.  And  they 
all  use  Beards,  as  Men  of  Greece  do.  And  they  make  the 
Sacrament  of  Therf  (or  Unleavened)  Bread.  And  in  their 
Language  they  use  the  Letters  of  the  Saracens.  But  in  the 
Mysteries  of  Holy  Church  they  use  Letters  of  Greece.  And 
they  make  their  Confession,  right  as  the  Jacobites  do. 

There  be  others,  that  Men  call  Georgians,  that  Saint  George 
converted  ;  and  him  they  worship  more  than  any  other  Saint, 
and  to  him  they  cry  for  Help.  And  they  came  out  of  the 
Realm  of  Georgia.  These  Folk  use  shaven  Crowns.  The 
Clerks  have  round  Crowns,  and  the  Laymen  have  Crowns  all 
square.  And  they  hold  Christian  Laws,  as  do  they  of  Greece  ; 
of  whom  I  have  spoken  of  before. 

Other  there  be  that  Men  call  Christian  Men  of  Girding, 
for  they  be  all  girt  above.  And  there  be  others  that  Men 
call  Nestorians.  And  some  are  Aryans,  some  Nubians,  some 
of  Greece,  some  of  Ind,  and  some  of  Prester  John's  Land. 
And  all  these  have  many  Articles  of  our  Faith,  but  to  some 
they  be  variant.  And  of  their  Variance  were  too  long  to  tell, 
and  so  I  will  leave,  for  the  Time,  without  more  speaking  of 
them. 


CHAPTER   XI 

Of  the  City  of  Damascus.  Of  3  Ways  to  Jerusalem  ;  one,  by  Land 
and  by  Sea  ;  another,  more  by  land  than  by  sea;  and  the  T^rd  Way 
to  Jerusale?n,  all  by  Land. 

NOW  that  I  have  told  you  of  some  Part  of  the  Folk  in 
the  Countries  before,  now  will  I  turn  again  on  my 
Way,  to  turn  again  to  this  half  of  my  Travels.  Then 
whoso  will  go  from  the  Land  of  Galilee,  that  I  have  spoke 
of,  to  come  again  on  this  half,  Men  come  again  by  Damascus, 
that  is  a  full  fair  City  and  full  noble,  and  full  of  all  Merchan- 
dises, and  a  3  Days*  Journey  long  from  the  Sea,  and  a  5  Days* 
Journey  from  Jerusalem.  But  upon  Camels,  Mules,  Horses, 
Dromedaries  and  other  Beasts,  Men  carry  their  Merchandise 
thither.  And  thither  come  Merchants  with  Merchandise  by 
Sea  from  India,  Persia,  Chaldea,  Armenia,  and  from  many 
other  Kingdoms. 

This  City  founded  Eliezer  Damascus,  that  was  Yeoman  and 
Dispenser  (or  Steward)  of  Abraham  before  that  Isaac  was 
born.  For  he  thought  to  have  been  Abraham's  Heir,  and  he 
named  the  Town  after  his  Surname.  And  in  that  Place, 
where  Damascus  was  founded,  Cain  slew  Abel  his  Brother, 
And  beside  Damascus  is  the  Mount  Seir.  In  that  City  of 
Damascus  there  is  great  Plenty  of  Wells.  And  within  the 
City  and  without  be  many  fair  Gardens  of  diverse  Fruits. 
None  other  City  is  like  in  comparison  to  it  for  fair  Gardens, 
and  for  fair  Diversions.  The  City  is  great  and  full  of  People, 
and  walled  with  double  Walls.  And  there  be  many  Physi- 
cians. And  Saint  Paul  himself  was  there  a  Physician  to  keep 
Men's  Bodies  in  Health,  before  he  was  converted.  And  after 
that  he  was  Physician  of  Souls.  And  Saint  Luke  the  Evan- 
gelist was  Disciple  of  Saint  Paul  to  learn  Physic,  and  many 
others ;  for  Saint  Paul  held  then  a  School  of  Physic.  And 
near  beside  Damascus  was  he  converted.  And  after  his  Con- 
version he  dwelt  in  that  City  3  Days,  without  Sight  and  with- 

74 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  75 

out  Meat  or  Drink ;  and  in  those  3  Days  he  was  ravished  to 
Heaven,  and  there  he  saw  many  Privities  of  our  Lord. 

And  fast  by  Damascus  is  the  Castle  of  Arkes  that  is  both 
fair  and  strong. 

From  Damascus  Men  come  again  by  our  Lady  of  Sardenak, 
that  is  a  5  Mile  on  this  side  Damascus.  And  it  is  set  upon 
a  Rock,  and  it  is  a  full  fair  Place  ;  and  it  seemeth  a  Castle, 
for  there  was  wont  to  be  a  Castle,  but  it  is  now  a  full  fair 
Church,  And  there  within  be  Monks  and  Nuns  Christian. 
And  there  is  a  Vault  under  the  Church,  where  that  Christian 
Men  dwell  also.  And  they  have  many  good  Vines.  And  in 
the  Church,  behind  the  high  Altar,  in  the  Wall,  is  a  Table  of 
black  Wood,  on  the  which  some-time  was  painted  an  Image 
of  our  Lady  that  turneth  into  Flesh:  but  now  the  Image 
sheweth  but  little,  but  evermore,  through  the  Grace  of  God, 
that  Table  droppeth  as  it  were  of  Olive ;  and  there  is  a  Ves- 
sel of  Marble  under  the  Table  to  receive  the  Oil ;  thereof 
they  give  unto  Pilgrims,  for  it  healeth  of  many  Sicknesses. 
And  he  that  keepeth  it  cleanly  a  Year,  after  that  Year  it 
turneth  into  Flesh  and  Blood. 

Between  the  City  of  Dark  and  the  City  of  Raphan  is  a 
River  that  Men  call  Sabbatoria  ^ ;  for  on  the  Saturday  it 
runneth  fast,  and  all  the  Week  else  it  standeth  still,  and  run- 
neth nought  or  little.  And  there  is  another  River,  that  in 
the  Night  freezeth  wondrous  fast,  and  in  the  Day  is  no  Frost 
seen. 

And  so  go  Men  by  a  City  that  Men  call  Beirout,  and  there 
Men  go  on  to  the  Sea,  that  shall  go  unto  Cyprus.  And  they 
arrive  at  the  Port  of  Sur  or  of  Tyre,  and  then  go  unto  Cyprus. 
Or  else  Men  may  go  from  the  Port  of  Tyre  right  well  and 
come  not  unto  Cyprus,  and  arrive  at  some  Haven  of  Greece. 
And  then  come  Men  unto  these  Countries  by  Ways  that  I 
have  spoken  of  before. 

Now  I  have  told  you  of  Ways  by  the  which  Men  go  farthest 
and  longest,  as  by  Babylon  and  Mount  Sinai  and  other  Places 
many,  through  the  which  Lands  Men  turn  again  to  the  Land 
of  Promise. 

Now  will  I  tell  you  the  straight  Way  to  Jerusalem  :  for 
some  Men  will  not  pass  it ;  some  for  the  Expense,  some  for 
^  Sabbatum,  Latin  for  Saturday. 


76  MANDEVILLE 

they  have  no  Company,  and  other  many  reasonable  Causes. 
And  therefore  I  tell  you  shortly  how  a  Man  may  go  with 
little  Cost  and  short  Time. 

A  Man  that  cometh  from  the  Lands  of  the  West,  he  goeth 
through  France,  Burgundy  and  Lombardy  and  to  Venice  and 
to  Genoa,  or  to  some  other  Haven  of  the  Borders  ;  and  taketh 
a  Ship  there  and  goes  by  Sea  to  the  Isle  of  Gryffle  (?  Corfu), 
and  so  arriveth  in  Greece,  or  in  Port  Muroch,  or  Valon  or 
Duras,  or  at  some  other  Haven,  and  goes  to  Land  to  rest 
him ;  and  goes  again  to  Sea,  and  arrives  in  Cyprus,  and 
cometh  not  to  the  Isle  of  Rhodes,  but  arrives  at  Famagosta 
that  is  the  chief  Haven  of  Cyprus,  or  else  at  Lamaton  ;  and 
then  entereth  into  the  Ship  again  and  goes  beside  the  Haven 
of  Tyre  but  cometh  not  to  Land,  and  so  passeth  he  by  all 
the  Havens  of  that  Coast  until  he  come  to  Jaffa  that  is  the 
Highest  Haven  unto  Jerusalem,  whence  it  is  27  Mile.  And 
from  Jaffa  Men  go  to  the  City  of  Ramleh,  and  that  is  but 
little  thence,  and  it  is  a  fair  City.  And  beside  Ramleh  is  a 
fair  Church  of  our  Lady,  where  our  Lord  shewed  Him  to  our 
Lady  in  the  Likeness  that  betokeneth  the  Trinity.  And 
there,  fast  by,  is  a  Church  of  Saint  George,  where  that  his 
Head  was  smitten  off.  And  then  unto  the  Castle  Emmaus. 
And  then  unto  Mount  Joy ;  and  from  thence  Pilgrims  may 
first  see  unto  Jerusalem.  And  then  to  Mount  Modein.  And 
then  to  Jerusalem.  And  at  the  Mount  Modein  lieth  the 
Prophet  Maccabeus.  And  over  Ramleh  is  the  Town  of 
Tekoa,  where-of  Amos  the  good  Prophet  was. 

Another  Way.  Forasmuch  as  many  Men  may  not  suffer 
the  Savour  of  the  Sea,  but  had  as  lief  go  by  Land,  though 
that  it  be  more  Pain,  a  Man  shall  so  go  unto  one  of  the 
Havens  of  Lombardy,  as  Venice  or  another.  And  he  shall 
pass  into  Greece  through  Port  Moroch  or  another,  and  so  he 
shall  go  unto  Constantinople.  And  he  shall  so  pass  the 
Water  that  is  clept  the  Brace  of  Saint  George,  that  is  an 
Arm  of  the  Sea.  And  from  thence  he  shall  come  to  Pulver- 
all  and  then  unto  the  Castle  of  Cinopolis.  And  from  thence 
shall  he  go  unto  Cappadocia,  that  is  a  great  Country,  where 
there  be  many  great  Hills.  And  he  shall  go  through  the 
City  of  Nyke  (Nicea),  the  which  they  won  from  the  Emperor 
of  Constantinople ;  and  it  is  a  fair  City  and  wondrous  well 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  yy 

walled  ;  and  there  is  a  River  that  Men  call  the  Laye.  And 
then  Men  go  by  the  Alps  of  Aryoprynant,  and  by  the  Vales 
of  Mallebrinez,  and  eke  the  Vale  of  Ernax ;  and  so  unto 
Antioch  the  Less  that  sitteth  on  the  River  Reclay.  And 
thereabout  be  many  good  Hills  and  fair,  and  many  fair 
Woods,  and  eke  wild  Beasts, 

And  he  that  will  go  by  another  Way,  he  must  go  by  the 
Plain  of  Roumania,  coasting  the  Roumanian  Sea.  Upon  that 
Coast  is  a  wondrous  fair  Castle  that  men  call  Florathe.  And 
when  a  Man  is  out  of  those  same  Hills,  Men  pass  then 
through  a  City,  that  is  called  Marioch  and  Arteis,  where 
there  is  a  great  Bridge  upon  the  River  of  Feme  that  Men 
call  Fassar  ;  and  it  is  a  great  River  bearing  Ships.  And  be- 
side the  City  of  Damascus  is  a  River  that  cometh  from  the 
Mountain  of  Lebanon  that  Men  call  Abana :  at  passing  of 
this  River  Saint  Eustace  lost  his  2  Sons,  when  that  he  had 
lost  his  Wife ;  and  it  goeth  through  the  Plain  of  Arthadoe, 
and  so  unto  the  Red  Sea.  And  so  Men  may  go  unto  the 
City  of  Phenne,  and  so  unto  the  City  of  Feme. 

And  Antioch  is  a  full  fair  City  and  well  walled.  For  it  is 
2  Mile  long.  And  each  Pillar  of  the  Bridge  there  is  a  good 
Tower.     And  this  is  the  best  City  of  the  Kingdom  of  Syria. 

And  from  Antioch  Men  may  so  go  forth  unto  the  City  of 
Latakia,  and  then  unto  Gabala,  and  then  unto  Tartus  ;  and 
there-by  is  the  Land  of  Cambre,  where  there  is  a  strong 
Castle  that  Men  call  Maubeke.  And  from  Tartus  Men  go 
unto  Tripoli  upon  the  Sea.  And  upon  the  Sea  Men  go  unto 
Acre  ;  and  thence  be  2  Ways  unto  Jerusalem.  Upon  the  left 
Way,  Men  go  first  unto  Damascus  by  River  Jordan.  Upon 
the  right  Side,  Men  go  through  the  Land  of  Flagam,  and  so 
unto  the  City  of  Caiaphas,  of  the  which  Caiaphas  was  Lord, 
and  some  call  it  the  Castle  of  Pilgrims  (Athlet).  And  from 
thence  is  4  Days'  Journey  unto  Jerusalem,  and  they  go  through 
Cesarea  Philippi,  and  Jaffa,  and  Ramleh  and  Emmaus,  and  so 
unto  Jerusalem. 

Now  have  I  told  you  some  of  the  Ways  by  the  Land  and 
eke  by  Water  how  that  Men  may  go  unto  Jerusalem  ;  though 
that  it  be  so,  that  there  be  many  other  Ways  that  Men  go  by, 
according  to  the  Countries  that  they  come  from ;  neverthe- 
less, they  turn  all  unto  one  End.     Yet  is  there  a  Way  all  by 


yS  MANDEVILLE 

Land  unto  Jerusalem  and  passing  over  no  Sea.  That  is  from 
France  or  Flanders.  But  that  Way  is  full  long  and  perilous, 
and  of  great  Travail ;  and  therefore  few  go  that  same  Way. 
And  whoso  goeth  that  Way,  he  must  go  through  Germany 
and  Prussia,  and  so  unto  Tartary. 

This  Tartary  is  held  of  the  great  Chan,  of  whom  I  shall 
speak  more  afterward,  for  thither  lasteth  his  Lordship.  And 
the  Lords  of  Tartary  yield  unto  the  great  Chan  Tribute, 
This  is  a  full  ill  Land  and  a  sandy,  and  bearing  but  little 
Fruit,  For  there  groweth  little  good  of  Corn  or  Wine, 
neither  Beans  nor  Peas,  But  Beasts  be  there  enough,  and 
that  full  great  Plenty.  And  there  eat  they  nought  but  Flesh 
without  Bread,  and  they  sup  the  Broth  thereof.  And  also 
they  drink  the  Milk.  And  all  Manner  of  wild  Beasts  they 
eat.  Hounds,  Cats,  Rats,  and  all  other  wild  Beasts,  And  they 
have  no  Wood,  or  else  little ;  and  therefore  they  warm  and 
seethe  their  Meat  with  Horse-dung  and  Cow-dung  and  that 
of  other  Beasts,  dried  against  the  Sun.  And  Princes  and 
others  eat  not  but  once  in  the  Day,  and  that  but  little.  And 
they  be  right  foul  Folk  and  of  evil  Kind.  And  in  Summer, 
by  all  the  Countries,  fall  many  Tempests  and  many  hideous 
Thunders  and  Lightnings  and  slay  much  People  and  Beasts 
also  full  often-time.  And  suddenly  is  it  there  passing  hot, 
and  suddenly  also  passing  cold ;  and  it  is  the  foulest  Country 
and  the  most  cursed  and  the  poorest  that  Men  know.  And 
their  Prince,  that  governeth  that  Country,  that  they  call 
Batho,  dwelleth  at  the  City  of  Orda.  And  truly  no  good 
Man  should  dwell  in  that  Country,  for  the  Land  and  the 
Country  is  not  worthy  of  Hounds  to  dwell  in.  It  were  a 
good  Country  to  sow  in  Thistle  and  Briars  and  Broom  and 
Thorns  ;  and  for  no  other  Thing  is  it  good.  Nevertheless, 
there  is  good  Land  in  some  Places,  but  it  is  very  little,  as 
Men  say. 

I  have  not  been  in  that  Country,  nor  by  those  Ways,  But 
I  have  been  at  other  Lands  that  march  with  those  Countries, 
and  in  the  land  of  Russia,  and  in  the  Land  of  Nyfland  (Livo- 
nia), and  in  the  Realm  of  Cracow  and  of  Letto  (Lithuania), 
and  in  the  Realm  of  Daristan,  and  in  many  other  Places  that 
march  with  the  Borders.  But  I  went  never  by  that  Way  to 
Jerusalem,  wherefore  I  may  not  well  tell  you  the  Manner. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  79 

But,  if  this  Matter  please  any  worthy  Man  that  hath  gone 
by  that  Way,  he  may  tell  it  if  it  like  him ;  to  that  Intent, 
that  those,  that  will  go  by  that  Way  and  make  their  Voyage 
by  those  Borders,  may  know  what  Way  is  there.  For  no 
Man  may  pass  by  that  Way  goodly,  but  in  Time  of  Winter, 
for  the  perilous  Waters  and  wicked  Morasses,  that  be  in  those 
Countries,  that  no  Man  may  pass  but  if  it  be  strong  Frost 
and  Snow  above.  For  if  there  were  no  Snow,  Men  might 
not  go  upon  the  Ice,  nor  Horse  nor  Car  either. 

And  it  is  well  a  3  Days'  Journey  of  such  Way  to  pass  from 
Prussia  to  the  Land  of  Saracens  that  is  habitable.  And  it 
behoveth  to  the  Christian  Men,  that  shall  war  against  them 
every  Year,  to  bear  their  Victuals  with  them  ;  for  they  shall 
find  there  none  good.  And  then  must  they  make  carry  their 
Victual  upon  the  Ice  with  Cars  that  have  no  Wheels,  that 
they  call  Sleighs.  And  as  long  as  their  Victuals  last  they 
may  abide  there,  but  no  longer ;  for  there  shall  they  find  no 
Person  that  will  sell  them  any  Victual  or  anything.  And 
when  the  Spies  see  any  Christian  Men  come  upon  them,  they 
run  to  the  Towns,  and  cry  with  a  loud  Voice,  "  Kerra,  Kerra, 
Kerra."  And  then  anon  they  arm  them  and  assemble  them 
together. 

And  ye  shall  understand  that  it  freezeth  more  strongly  in 
those  Countries  than  on  this  Half.  And  therefore  hath  every 
Man  Stoves  in  his  House,  and  on  those  Stoves  they  eat  and 
do  their  Occupations  all  that  they  may.  For  that  is  at  the 
North  Parts  that  Men  call  the  Septentrional  where  it  is  cold. 
For  the  Sun  is  but  little  or  none  toward  those  Countries. 
And  therefore  in  the  Septentrion,  that  is  very  North,  is  the 
Land  so  cold,  that  none  may  dwell  there.  And,  on  the  con- 
trary, toward  the  South  it  is  so  hot,  that  no  Man  may  dwell 
there,  because  that  the  Sun,  when  he  is  upon  the  South, 
casteth  his  Beams  all  straight  upon  that  Part. 


CHAPTER   XII 

Of  the  Customs  of  Saracens,  and  of  their  Laiv.  And  how  the  Sultan 
questioned  me,  the  Author  of  this  Book ;  a?id  of  the  hegitining  of 
Alohammet 

NOW,  because  that  I  have  spoken  of  Saracens  and  of 
their  Country  —  now,  if  ye  will  know  a  Part  of  their 
Law  and  of  their  Belief,  I  shall  tell  you  what  their 
Book  that  is  clept  "Al  Koran"  telleth.  And  some  Men  call 
that  Book  "  Meshaf."  And  some  Men  call  it  "  Harme,"  after 
the  diverse  Languages  of  the  Country,  The  which  Book 
Mohammet  took  them.  In  the  which  Book,  among  other 
Things,  is  written,  as  I  have  often-time  seen  and  read,  that 
the  Good  shall  go  to  Paradise,  and  the  Evil  to  Hell ;  and  that 
believe  all  Saracens.  And  if  a  Man  ask  them  what  Paradise 
they  mean,  they  say,  to  Paradise  that  is  a  Place  of  Delights 
where  Men  shall  find  all  Manner  of  Fruits  in  all  Seasons, 
and  Rivers  running  of  Milk  and  Honey,  and  of  Wine  and  of 
sweet  Water ;  and  that  they  shall  have  fair  Houses  and 
noble,  every  Man  after  his  Desert,  made  of  precious  Stones 
and  of  Gold  and  of  Silver ;  and  that  every  Man  shall  have  80 
Wives  ^  all  Maidens,  and  he  shall  have  ado  every  Day  with 
them,  and  yet  he  shall  find  them  always  Maidens. 

Also  they  believe  and  speak  gladly  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
of  the  Incarnation.  And  they  say  that  Mary  was  taught  of 
the  Angel ;  and  that  Gabriel  said  to  her,  that  she  was  for- 
chosen  from  the  Beginning  of  the  World  ;  and  that  he  showed 
to  her  the  Incarnation  of  Jesu  Christ ;  and  that  she,  a  Maiden, 
conceived  and  bare  Child  ;  and  that  witnesseth  their  Book. 
And  they  say  also,  that  Jesu  Christ  spake  as  soon  He  was 
born ;  and  that  He  was  an  Holy  Prophet  and  a  true  in  Word 
and  Deed,  and  meek  and  merciful  and  righteous  and  without 
any  Vice. 

^  Three  of  the  English  MSS.  and  one  of  the  Latin  give  10  ;  and  the  two 
French  MSS.  90. 

80 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  8l 

And  they  say  also,  that  when  the  Angel  showed  the  In- 
carnation of  Christ  unto  Mary,  she  was  young  and  had  great 
Dread.  For  there  was  then  an  Enchanter  in  the  Country 
that  dealt  with  Witchcraft,  that  Men  called  Taknia,  that  by 
his  Enchantments  could  make  him  in  Likeness  of  an  Angel, 
and  went  often-times  and  lay  with  Maidens.  And  therefore 
Mary  dreaded  lest  it  had  been  Taknia,  that  came  to  deceive 
the  Maidens.  And  therefore  she  conjured  the  Angel,  that 
he  should  tell  her  if  it  were  he  or  no.  And  the  Angel  an- 
swered and  said  that  she  should  have  no  Dread  of  him,  for 
he  was  the  very  Messenger  of  Jesu  Christ.  Also  their  Book 
saith,  that  when  that  she  had  childed  under  a  Palm  Tree  she 
had  great  Shame  that  she  had  a  Child  ;  and  she  greet  and 
said  that  she  would  she  had  been  dead.  And  anon  the  Child 
spake  to  her  and  comforted  her,  and  said,  "  Mother,  dismay 
thee  nought,  for  God  hath  hid  in  thee  His  Secrets,  for  the 
Salvation  of  the  World."  And  in  other  many  Places  saith 
their  Al  Koran,  that  Jesu  Christ  spake  as  soon  as  He  was 
born.  And  that  Book  saith  also  that  Jesu  was  sent  from 
God  Almighty  to  be  Mirror  and  Example  and  Token  to  all 
Men. 

And  the  Al  Koran  saith  also  of  the  Day  of  Doom  how  God 
shall  come  to  doom  all  Manner  of  Folk.  And  the  Good  He 
shall  draw  on  His  side  and  put  them  into  Bliss,  and  the 
Wicked  He  shall  condemn  to  the  Pains  of  Hell.  And  among 
all  Prophets  Jesu  was  the  most  excellent  and  the  most  worthy 
next  God,  and  that  He  made  the  Gospels  in  which  is  good 
Doctrine  and  heal-ful,  full  of  Charity  and  Truthfastness  and 
true  Preaching  to  them  that  believe  in  God.  And  that  He 
was  a  very  Prophet  and  more  than  a  Prophet,  and  lived  with- 
out Sin,  and  gave  Sight  to  the  Blind,  and  healed  the  Lepers, 
and  raised  dead  Men,  and  ascended  to  Heaven. 

And  when  they  hold  the  written  Book  of  the  Gospels  of  our 
Lord  called  "  Missus  est  Angelus  Gabriel,"  that  Gospel  they, 
those  that  be  lettered,  say  often-times  in  their  Orisons,  and 
they  kiss  it  and  worship  it  with  great  Devotion. 

They  fast  an  whole  Month  in  the  Year  and  eat  nought  but 
by  Night.  And  they  keep  them  from  their  Wives  all  that 
Month.  But  the  Sick  Men  be  not  constrained  to  that 
Fast. 

7 


82  MANDEVILLE 

Also  this  Book  speaketh  of  Jews  and  saith  that  they  be 
cursed ;  for  they  would  not  believe  that  Jesu  Christ  was  come 
of  God.  And  that  they  lied  falsely  of  Mary  and  of  her  Son 
Jesu  Christ,  saying  that  they  had  crucified  Jesu  the  Son  of 
Mary ;  for  He  was  never  crucified,  as  they  say,  but  that  God 
made  Him  to  ascend  up  to  Him  without  Death  and  without 
Annoy,  But  He  transfigured  His  Likeness  into  Judas  Isca- 
riot,  and  him  crucified  the  Jews,  and  wot  that  it  had  been 
Jesus.  But  Jesus  ascended  to  Heaven  all  alive.  And  there- 
fore they  say,  that  the  Christian  Men  err  and  have  no  good 
Knowledge  of  this,  and  that  they  believe  foolishly  and  falsely 
that  Jesu  Christ  was  crucified.  And  they  say  also,  that  had 
He  been  crucified,  that  God  had  done  against  His  Righteous- 
ness to  suffer  Jesu  Christ  that  was  innocent  to  be  put  upon 
the  Cross  without  Guilt.  And  in  this  Article  they  say  that 
we  fail  and  that  the  great  Righteousness  of  God  might  not 
suffer  so  great  a  Wrong  :  and  in  this  faileth  their  Faith.  For 
they  acknowledge  well,  that  the  Works  of  Jesu  Christ  be  good, 
and  His  Words  and  His  Deeds  and  His  Doctrines  by  His 
Gospels  were  true,  and  His  Miracles  also  true ;  and  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  is  good  and  holy  Maiden  before  and 
after  the  Birth  of  Jesu  Christ ;  and  that  all  those  that  believe 
perfectly  in  God  shall  be  saved.  And  because  that  they  go 
so  nigh  our  Faith,  they  be  lightly  converted  to  Christian  Law 
when  Men  preach  to  them  and  show  them  distinctly  the  Law 
of  Jesu  Christ,  and  tell  them  of  the  Prophecies. 

And  also  they  say,  that  they  know  well  by  the  Prophecies 
that  the  Law  of  Mohammet  shall  fail,  as  the  Law  of  the  Jews 
did ;  and  that  the  Law  of  Christian  People  shall  last  to  the 
Day  of  Doom.  And  if  any  Man  ask  them  what  is  their  Belief, 
they  answer  thus,  and  in  this  Form:  "We  believe  in  God, 
Maker  of  Heaven  and  Earth  and  of  all  other  Things  that  He 
made.  And  without  Him  is  Nothing  made.  And  we  believe 
in  the  Day  of  Doom,  and  that  every  Man  shall  have  his  Merit, 
after  that  he  hath  deserved.  And,  we  believe  it  for  Truth,  all 
that  God  hath  said  by  the  Mouths  of  His  Prophets." 

Also  Mohammet  commanded  in  his  Al  Koran,  that  every 
Man  should  have  2  Wives,  or  3  or  4 ;  but  now  they  take  unto 
9,  and  of  Lemans  as  many  as  they  may  sustain.  And  if  any 
of  their  Wives  mis-behave  them  against  their  Husband,  he 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  83 

may  cast  her  out  of  his  House,  and  depart  from  her  and  take 
another ;  but  he  shall  part  with  her  his  Goods. 

Also,  when  Men  speak  to  them  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  say,  that  they  be  3  Persons,  but 
not  one  God  ;  for  their  Al  Koran  speaketh  not  of  the  Trinity. 
But  they  say  well,  that  God  hath  Speech,  and  else  were  He 
dumb.  And  God  hath  also  a  Spirit  they  know  well,  for  else, 
they  say,  He  were  not  alive.  And  when  Men  speak  to  them 
of  the  Incarnation  how  that  by  the  Word  of  the  Angel  God 
sent  His  Wisdom  on  to  Earth  and  enshadowed  Him  in  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  that  by  the  Word  of  God  shall  the  Dead  be 
raised  at  the  Day  of  Doom,  they  say,  that  it  is  Truth  and  that 
the  Word  of  God  hath  great  Strength,  And  they  say  that 
whoso  knoweth  not  the  Word  of  God  he  should  not  know  God. 
And  they  say  also  that  Jesu  Christ  is  the  Word  of  God  :  and 
so  saith  their  Al  Koran,  where  it  saith  that  the  Angel  spake  to 
Mary  and  said :  "  Mary,  God  shall  preach  the  Gospel  by  the 
Word  of  His  Mouth  and  His  Name  shall  be  clept  Jesu  Christ." 

And  they  say  also,  that  Abraham  was  Friend  to  God,  and 
that  Moses  was  a  familiar  Speaker  with  God,  and  Jesu  Christ 
was  the  Word  and  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  that  Mohammet 
was  the  right  Messenger  of  God,  And  they  say,  that  of  these 
4,  Jesu  was  the  most  worthy  and  the  most  excellent  and  the 
most  great.  So  that  they  have  many  good  Articles  of  our 
Faith,  albeit  that  they  have  no  perfect  Law  and  Faith  as 
Christian  Men  have  ;  and  therefore  be  they  lightly  converted, 
especially  those  that  understand  the  Scriptures  and  the 
Prophecies.  For  they  have  Gospels  and  the  Prophecies  and 
the  Bible  written  in  their  Language ;  wherefore  they  know 
much  of  Holy  Writ,  but  they  understand  it  not  but  after  the 
Letter.  And  so  do  the  Jews,  for  they  understand  not  the 
Letter  ghostly  (or  spiritually),  but  bodily ;  and  therefore  be 
they  reproved  of  the  Wise,  that  ghostly  understand  it. 
And  therefore  saith  Saint  Paul :  "  Litera  occidit ;  Spiritus 
vivificat"  ("The  Letter  killeth ;  the  Spirit  quickeneth "). 
Also  the  Saracens  say,  that  the  Jews  be  cursed ;  for  they 
have  be-fouled  the  Law  that  God  sent  them  by  Moses  :  and 
the  Christians  be  cursed  also,  as  they  say ;  for  they  keep  not 
the  Commandments  and  the  Precepts  of  the  Gospel  that 
Jesu  Christ  taught  them. 


84  MANDEVILLE 

And,  therefore,  I  shall  tell  you  what  the  Sultan  told  me 
upon  a  Day  in  his  Chamber.  He  made  void  out  of  his  Cham- 
ber all  manner  of  Men,  Lords  and  others,  for  he  would  speak 
with  me  in  Counsel.  And  there  he  asked  me  how  the  Chris- 
tian Men  governed  themselves  in  our  Country.  And  I  said, 
"  Right  well,  thanked  be  God  !  " 

And  he  said  to  me,  "  Truly  Nay  !  For  ye  Christian  Men 
reck  not,  right  nought,  how  untruly  ye  serve  God  !  Ye  should 
give  Ensample  to  the  Lay  People  to  do  well,  and  ye  give 
them  Ensample  to  do  evil.  For  the  Commoners,  upon  Festi- 
val Days,  when  they  should  go  to  Church  to  serve  God,  then 
go  to  Taverns,  and  be  there  in  Gluttony  all  the  Day  and  all 
Night,  and  eat  and  drink  as  Beasts  that  have  no  Reason,  and 
wist  not  when  they  have  had  enough.  And  also  the  Christian 
Men  strengthen  themselves,  in  all  Manners  that  they  may, 
to  fight  and  deceive  the  one  the  other.  And  therewithal  they 
be  so  proud,  that  they  know  not  how  to  be  clothed ;  now 
long,  now  short,  now  strait,  now  large,  now  sworded,  now 
daggered,  and  in  all  manner  of  Guises.  They  should  be  sim- 
ple, meek  and  true,  and  full  of  Alms-deeds,  as  Jesu  was,  in 
whom  they  trow ;  but  they  be  all  the  contrary,  and  ever  in- 
clined to  Evil  and  to  do  Evil.  And  they  be  so  covetous, 
that,  for  a  little  Silver,  they  sell  their  Daughters,  their  Sisters 
and  their  own  Wives,  to  put  them  to  Lechery.  And  one 
withdraweth  the  Wife  of  another,  and  none  of  them  holdeth 
Faith  to  another;  but  they  be-foul  their  Law  that  Jesu  Christ 
gave  them  to  keep  for  their  Salvation.  And  thus,  for  their 
Sins,  have  they  lost  all  this  Land  that  we  hold.  For,  for  their 
Sins  there,  God  hath  given  them  into  our  Hands,  not  only  by 
Strength  of  ourselves,  but  for  their  Sins.  For  we  know  well, 
in  very  Sooth,  that  when  ye  serve  God,  God  will  help  you ; 
and  when  He  is  with  you,  no  Man  may  be  against  you.  And 
that  know  we  well  by  our  Prophecies,  that  Christian  Men 
shall  win  again  this  Land  out  of  our  Hands,  when  they  serve 
God  more  devoutly  ;  but  as  long  as  they  be  of  foul  and  of 
unclean  living,  as  they  be  now,  we  have  Dread  of  them  in  no 
kind,  for  their  God  will  not  help  them  in  any  wise." 

And  then  I  asked  him,  how  he  knew  the  State  of  Chris- 
tian Men.  And  he  answered  me,  that  he  knew  all  the  State 
of  the  Commoners  also  by  his  Messengers  that  he  sent  to  all 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  85 

Lands,  in  manner  as  though  they  were  Merchants  of  precious 
Stones,  of  Cloths  of  Gold  and  of  other  Things,  to  know  the 
Manner  of  every  Country  amongst  Christian  Men. 

And  then  he  let  call  in  all  the  Lords  that  he  made  void 
first  out  of  his  Chamber,  and  then  he  shewed  me  4  that  were 
great  Lords  in  the  Country,  that  told  me  of  my  Country  and 
of  many  other  Christian  Countries,  as  well  as  if  they  had  been 
of  the  same  Countries  ;  and  they  spake  French  right  well,  and 
the  Sultan  also ;  whereof  I  had  great  Marvel. 

Alas !  it  is  great  Slander  to  our  Faith  and  to  our  Law,  when 
Folk  that  be  without  Law  shall  reprove  us  and  chide  us  for 
our  Sins,  and  that  they  that  should  be  converted  to  Christ 
and  to  the  Law  of  Jesu  by  our  good  Ensamples  and  by  our 
acceptable  Life  to  God,  and  so  converted  to  the  Law  of  Jesu 
Christ,  be,  through  our  Wickedness  and  evil  Living,  far  from 
us  and  Strangers  from  the  holy  and  true  Belief,  and  should 
thus  charge  us  and  hold  us  for  wicked  Livers  and  cursed. 
And  truly  they  say  Sooth,  for  the  Saracens  be  good  and  faith- 
ful ;  for  they  keep  entirely  the  Commandment  of  the  Holy 
Book  Al  Koran  that  God  sent  them  by  His  Messenger 
Mohammet,  to  the  which,  as  they  say,  Saint  Gabriel  the  Angel 
oftentime  told  the  Will  of  God. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  Mohammet  was  born  in 
Arabia,  that  was  first  a  poor  Knave  that  kept  Camels,  that 
went  with  Merchants  for  Merchandise.  And  it  so  befell,  that 
he  went  with  the  Merchants  into  Egypt ;  and  they  were  then 
Christian  in  those  Parts.  And  at  the  Deserts  of  Arabia,  he 
went  into  a  Chapel  where  a  Hermit  dwelt.  And  when  he 
entered  into  the  Chapel  that  was  but  a  little  and  low  Thing 
and  had  but  a  little  Door  and  a  low,  then  the  Entry  began  to 
wax  so  great  and  so  large  and  so  high  as  though  it  had  been 
of  a  great  Minster  or  the  Gate  of  a  Palace.  And  this  was  the 
first  Miracle,  the  Saracens  say,  that  Mohammet  did  in  his 
Youth. 

After  began  he  to  wax  wise  and  rich.  And  he  was  a  great 
Astronomer.  After,  he  was  Governor  and  Prince  of  the  Land 
of  Cozrodane  ;  and  he  governed  it  full  wisely,  in  such  manner, 
that  when  the  Prince  was  dead,  he  took  his  Lady  to  Wife  that 
bight  Kadija.  And  Mohammet  fell  often  in  the  great  Sick- 
ness that  Men  call  the  Falling  Evil ;  wherefore  the  Lady  was 


86  MANDEVILLE 

full  sorry  that  ever  she  took  him  to  Husband.  But  Moham- 
met  made  her  to  believe,  that  all  Times,  when  he  fell  so, 
Gabriel  the  Angel  came  to  speak  with  him,  and  for  the  great 
Light  and  Brightness  of  the  Angel  he  might  not  sustain  him 
from  falling.  And  therefore  the  Saracens  say,  that  Gabriel 
came  often  to  speak  with  him. 

This  Mohammet  reigned  in  Arabia,  the  Year  of  our  Lord 
Jesu  Christ  6io,  and  was  of  the  Generation  of  Ishmael  that 
was  Abraham's  Son,  that  he  gat  upon  Hagar  his  Hand-maiden. 
And  therefore  there  be  Saracens  that  be  clept  Ishmaelites ; 
and  some  Hagarenes,  from  Hagar.  And  other  be  properly 
clept  Saracens,  from  Sarah.  And  some  be  clept  Moabites 
and  some  Ammonites,  from  the  2  Sons  of  Lot,  Moab  and 
Ammon,  that  he  begat  on  his  Daughters,  that  were  afterward 
great  earthly  Princes. 

And  also  Mohammet  loved  well  a  good  Hermit  that  dwelled 
in  the  Deserts  a  Mile  from  Mount  Sinai,  in  the  Way  that 
Men  go  from  Arabia  toward  Chaldea,  and  toward  Ind,  one 
Day's  Journey  from  the  Sea,  where  the  Merchants  of  Venice 
come  often  for  Merchandise.  And  so  often  went  Mohammet 
to  this  Hermit,  that  all  his  Men  were  wroth ;  for  he  would 
gladly  hear  this  Hermit  preach  and  make  his  Men  wake  all 
Night.  And  therefore  his  Men  thought  to  put  the  Hermit  to 
Death.  And  so  it  befell  upon  a  Night,  that  Mohammet  was 
drunken  of  good  Wine,  and  he  fell  asleep.  And  his  Men  took 
Mohammet's  Sword  out  of  his  Sheath,  whiles  he  slept,  and 
therewith  they  slew  this  Hermit,  and  put  his  Sword  all  bloody 
in  his  Sheath  again.  And  at  the  Morrow,  when  he  found  the 
Hermit  dead,  he  was  full  sorry  and  wroth,  and  would  have 
done  his  Men  to  Death.  But  they  all,  with  one  Accord,  said 
that  he  himself  had  slain  him,  when  he  was  drunk,  and  shewed 
him  his  Sword  all  bloody.  And  he  trowed  that  they  had  said 
Truth.  And  then  he  cursed  the  Wine  and  them  that  drink 
it.  And  therefore  Saracens  that  be  devout  drink  never  any 
Wine.  But  some  drink  it  privily  ;  for  if  they  drunk  it  openly, 
they  should  be  reproved.  But  they  drink  good  Beverage  and 
sweet  and  nourishing  that  is  made  of  Gallamelle  and  that  is 
what  Men  make  Sugar  of,  that  is  of  right  good  Savour,  and  it 
is  good  for  the  Breast. 

Also  it  befalleth  some-time,  that  Christian   Men  become 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  87 

Saracens,  either  for  Poverty  or  for  Simpleness,  or  else  for 
their  own  Wickedness.  And  therefore  the  Archfiamen  or  the 
Flamen,  like  our  Archbishop  or  Bishop,  when  he  receiveth 
them  saith  thus,  "La  ellec  Sila,  Machomete  Rores  alia;"* 
that  is  to  say,  "  There  is  no  God  but  one,  and  Mohammet  is 
His  Messenger." 

^  Maundevile's  version  for   "  Ld  ilaha  ilia  Ulah,  Muhammadun  rasulu 
'llah!" 


CHAPTER   XIII 

Of  the  Lands  of  Albania  and  of  Libia.     Of  the  Wishings  for  Watch- 
ing the  Sparrow-hawk  ;  and  of  Noah's  Ship 

NOW,  since  I  have  told  you  before  of  the  Holy  Land  and 
of  the  Country  about,  and  of  many  Ways  to  go  to  that 
Land  and  to  the  Mount  Sinai,  and  of  Babylon  the 
Greater  and  the  Less,  and  other  Places  that  I  have  spoken  of 
before,  —  now  is  Time,  if  it  like  you,  to  tell  you  of  the  Bor- 
ders and  Isles  and  divers  Beasts,  and  of  Divers  Folk  beyond 
these  Borders. 

For  in  those  Countries  beyond  be  many  diverse  Countries 
and  many  great  Kingdoms,  that  be  parted  by  the  4  Rivers 
that  come  from  terrestrial  Paradise.  For  Mesopotamia  and 
the  Kingdom  of  Chaldea  and  Arabia  be  between  the  2  Rivers 
of  Tigris  and  of  Euphrates.  And  the  Kingdom  of  Media  and 
Persia  be  between  the  Rivers  of  Nile  and  of  Tigris.  And 
the  Kingdom  of  Syria,  whereof  I  have  spoken  before,  and 
Palestine  and  Phoenicia  be  between  Euphrates  and  the  Sea 
Mediterranean,  the  which  Sea  endureth  in  Length  from  Mo- 
rocco upon  the  Sea  of  Spain  unto  the  great  Sea,  so  that  it 
lasteth  beyond  Constantinople  3040  Lombardy  Miles. 

And  toward  the  Sea  Ocean  is  the  Kingdom  of  Scythia  that  is 
all  closed  with  Hills.  And  after,  under  Scythia,  and  from  the 
Sea  of  Caspian  unto  the  River  Thainy,  is  Amazonia,  that  is  the 
Land  of  Females,  where  that  no  Man  is,  but  only  all  Women. 
And  after  is  Albania,  a  full  great  Realm  ;  and  it  is  clept 
Albania,  because  the  Folk  be  whiter  there  than  in  any  other 
Borders  there-about :  and  in  that  Country  be  so  great  Hounds 
and  so  strong,  that  they  assail  Lions  and  slay  them.  And 
then  after  is  Hircania,  Bactria,  Hiberia  and  many  other  King- 
doms. 

And  between  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Sea  Ocean,  toward  the 
South,  is  the  Kingdom  of  Ethiopia  and  of  Lybia  the  Higher, 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  89 

the  which  Land  of  Lybia,  that  is  to  say,  Lybia  the  Low  be- 
ginneth  at  the  Sea  of  Spain  from  thence  where  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  be,  and  endureth  unto  anent  Egypt  and  toward 
Ethiopia.  In  that  Country  of  Lybia  is  the  Sea  more  high 
than  the  Land,  and  it  seemeth  that  it  would  cover  the  Earth, 
and  nevertheless  it  passeth  not  his  Marks.  And  Men  see  in 
that  Country  a  Mountain  to  which  no  Man  cometh.  In  this 
Land  of  Lybia  whoso  turneth  toward  the  East,  the  Shadow 
of  himself  is  on  the  right  Side ;  and  here,  in  our  Country,  the 
Shadow  is  on  the  left  Side.  In  that  Sea  of  Lybia  is  no  Fish  ; 
for  they  may  not  live  nor  endure  for  the  great  Heat  of  the 
Sun,  because  that  the  Water  is  evermore  boiling  for  the  great 
Heat.  And  many  other  Lands  there  be  that  it  were  too  long 
to  tell  or  to  number.  But  of  some  Parts  I  shall  speak  more 
plainly  hereafter. 

Whoso  will  then  go  toward  Tartary,  toward  Persia,  toward 
Chaldea  and  toward  Ind,  he  must  enter  the  Sea  at  Genoa  or 
at  Venice  or  at  some  other  Haven  that  I  have  told  you  before. 
And  then  Men  pass  the  Sea  and  arrive  at  Trebizond  that 
is  a  good  City ;  and  it  was  wont  to  be  the  Haven  of  Pontus. 
There  is  the  Haven  of  Persians  and  of  Medians  and  of  the 
Borders  there  beyond.  In  that  City  lieth  Saint  Athanasius 
that  was  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  that  made  the  Psalm  "  Qui- 
cunque  vult." 

This  Athanasius  was  a  great  Doctor  of  Divinity.  And, 
because  that  he  preached  and  spake  so  deeply  of  Divinity 
and  of  the  Godhead,  he  was  accused  to  the  Pope  of  Rome 
that  he  was  an  Heretic.  Wherefore  the  Pope  sent  after  him 
and  put  him  in  Prison.  And  whiles  he  was  in  Prison  he  made 
that  Psalm  and  sent  it  to  the  Pope,  and  said,  that  if  he  were 
an  Heretic,  that  was  the  Heresy,  for  that,  he  said,  was  his 
Belief.  And  when  the  Pope  saw  it,  and  had  examined  it  that 
it  was  perfect  and  good,  and  verily  our  Faith  and  our  Belief, 
he  made  him  to  be  delivered  out  of  Prison,  and  commanded 
that  Psalm  to  be  said  every  Day  at  Prime  (6  o'clock  a.m.)  ; 
and  so  he  held  Athanasius  a  good  Man.  But  he  would  never 
go  to  his  Bishopric  again,  because  that  they  accused  him  of 
Heresy. 

Trebizond  was  wont  to  be  held  of  the  Emperor  of  Constan- 
tinople ;  but  a  great  Man,  that  he  sent  to  keep  the  Country 


90  MANDEVILLE 

against  the  Turks,  usurped  the  Land  and  held  it  to  himself, 
and  called  himself  Emperor  of  Trebizond. 

And  from  thence  Men  go  through  Little  Armenia.  And 
in  that  Country  is  an  old  Castle  that  stands  upon  a  Rock ; 
the  which  is  clept  the  Castle  of  the  Sparrow-hawk,  that  is 
beyond  the  City  of  Layays  beside  the  Town  of  Pharsipee, 
that  belongeth  to  the  Lordship  of  Cruk,  that  is  a  rich  Lord 
and  a  good  Christian  Man  ;  where  Men  find  a  Sparrow-hawk 
upon  a  Perch  right  fair  and  right  well  made,  and  a  Fair  Lady 
of  Faerie  that  keepeth  it.  And  who  that  will  watch  that 
Sparrow-hawk  7  Days  and  7  Nights,  or,  as  some  Men  say,  3 
Days  and  3  Nights,  without  Company  and  without  Sleep,  that 
fair  Lady  shall  give  him,  when  he  hath  done,  the  first  Wish 
that  he  will  wish  of  earthly  Things  ;  and  that  hath  been  proved 
often-times. 

And  one  Time  it  befell,  that  a  King  of  Armenia,  that  was 
a  worthy  Knight  and  doughty  Man,  and  a  noble  Prince, 
watched  that  Hawk  some  time.  And  at  the  End  of  7  Days 
and  7  Nights  the  Lady  came  to  him  and  bade  him  wish,  for 
he  had  well  deserved  it.  And  he  answered  that  he  was  great 
Lord  enough,  and  well  in  Peace,  and  had  enough  of  worldly 
Riches  ;  and  therefore  he  would  wish  none  other  Thing,  but 
the  Body  of  that  fair  Lady,  to  have  it  at  his  Will.  And 
she  answered  him,  that  he  knew  not  what  he  asked,  and 
said  that  he  was  a  Fool  to  desire  that  he  might  not  have ;  for 
she  said  that  he  should  not  ask  but  an  earthly  Thing,  for  she 
was  none  earthly  Thing,  but  a  ghostly  Thing.  And  the  King 
said  that  he  would  ask  none  other  Thing.  And  the  Lady 
answered  :  "  Since  that  I  may  not  withdraw  you  from  your 
lewd  Courage,  I  shall  give  you  without  Wishing,  and  to  all 
them  that  shall  come  of  your  Lineage.  Sir  King !  ye  shall 
have  War  without  Peace,  and  always  to  the  9th  Generation 
ye  shall  be  in  Subjection  of  your  Enemies,  and  ye  shall  be  in 
Need  of  all  Goods."  And  never  since  then,  neither  the  King 
of  Armenia  nor  the  Country  were  ever  in  Peace ;  neither  had 
they  ever  since  then  Plenty  of  Goods  ;  and  they  have  been 
since  then  always  under  Tribute  of  the  Saracens. 

Also  the  Son  of  a  poor  Man  watched  that  Hawk  and  wished 
that  he  might  achieve  well,  and  be  happy  in  Merchandise. 
And  the  Lady  granted  it  him.     And  he  became  the  most  rich 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  QI 

and  the  most  famous  Merchant  that  might  be  on  Sea  or  on 
Earth.  And  he  became  so  rich  that  he  knew  not  the  loooth 
Part  of  that  he  had.  And  he  was  wiser  in  Wishing  than  was 
the  King. 

Also  a  Knight  of  the  Temple  watched  there,  and  wished  a 
Purse  evermore  full  of  Gold.  And  the  Lady  granted  it  him. 
But  she  said  to  him  that  he  had  asked  the  Destruction  of 
their  Order  (the  Templars)  for  the  Trust  and  Affiance  of  that 
Purse,  and  for  the  great  Pride  that  they  should  have.  And 
so  it  was. 

And  therefore  look  that  he  keep  him  well,  that  shall  watch. 
For  if  he  sleep  he  is  lost,  that  never  Man  shall  see  him  more. 

This  is  not  the  right  Way  to  go  to  the  Parts  that  I  have 
named  before,  but  to  see  the  Marvel  that  I  have  spoken  of. 
And  therefore  whoso  will  go  the  right  way,  Men  go  from 
Trebizond  toward  Armenia  the  Great  unto  a  City  that  is  clept 
Erzeroum,  that  was  wont  to  be  a  good  City  and  a  plenteous ; 
but  the  Turks  have  greatly  wasted  it.  There-about  groweth 
no  Wine  nor  Fruit,  or  little  else  or  none.  In  this  Land  is  the 
Earth  more  high  than  in  any  other,  and  that  maketh  great 
Cold.  And  there  be  many  good  Waters  and  good  Wells  that 
come  under  Earth  from  the  River  of  Paradise,  that  is  clept 
Euphrates,  that  is  a  Day's  Journey  from  that  City.  And  that 
River  cometh  towards  Ind  under  Earth,  and  cometh  out  into 
the  Land  of  Altazar.  And  so  pass  Men  by  this  Armenia  and 
enter  the  Sea  of  Persia. 

From  that  City  of  Erzeroum  go  Men  to  an  Hill  that  is 
clept  Sabissocolle.  And  there  beside  is  another  Hill  that 
Men  call  Ararat,  but  the  Jews  call  it  Taneez,  where  Noah's 
Ship  rested,  and  yet  is  upon  that  Mountain.  And  Men  may 
see  it  afar  in  clear  Weather.  And  that  Mountain  is  well  a 
7  Mile  high.  And  some  Men  say  that  they  have  seen  and 
touched  the  Ship,  and  put  their  Fingers  in  the  Parts  where 
the  Fiend  went  out,  when  that  Noah  said,  "Benedicite." 
But  they  that  say  such  Words,  say  their  Will.^  For  a  Man 
may  not  go  up  the  Mountain,  for  great  Plenty  of  Snow  that 
is  always  on  that  Mountain,  either  Summer  or  Winter.  So 
that  no  Man  may  go  up  there.  Nor  never  Man  did,  since  the 
Time  of  Noah,  save  a  Monk  that,  by  the  Grace  of  God, 
^  That  is,  their  wish  is  father  to  their  speech. 


92  MANDEVILLE 

brought  one  of  the  Planks  down,  that  yet  is  in  the  Minster 
at  the  Foot  of  the  Mountain. 

And  beside  is  the  City  of  Dain  that  Noah  founded.  And 
fast  by  is  the  City  of  Any  in  the  which  were  a  looo  Churches. 

But  upon  that  Mountain  to  go  up,  this  Monk  had  great 
Desire.  And  so  upon  a  Day,  he  went  up.  And  when  he 
was  upward  the  3rd  Part  of  the  Mountain  he  was  so  weary 
that  he  might  no  further,  and  so  he  rested  him,  and  fell 
asleep.  And  when  he  awoke  he  found  himself  lying  at  the 
Foot  of  the  Mountain.  And  then  he  prayed  devoutly  to  God 
that  He  would  vouchsafe  to  suffer  him  go  up.  And  an  Angel 
came  to  him,  and  said  that  he  should  go  up.  And  so  he  did. 
And  since  that  Time  never  none.  Wherefore  Men  should 
not  believe  such  Words. 

From  that  Mountain  go  Men  to  the  City  of  Thauriso 
(Tabreez)  that  was  wont  to  be  clept  Faxis,  that  is  a  full  fair 
City  and  a  great,  and  one  of  the  best  that  is  in  the  World 
for  Merchandise ;  and  it  is  in  the  Land  of  the  Emperor  of 
Persia.  And  Men  say  that  the  Emperor  taketh  more  good 
in  that  City  for  Custom  from  Merchandise  than  doth  the 
richest  Christian  King  that  liveth  of  all  his  Realm.  For  the 
Toll  and  the  Custom  of  his  Merchants  is  without  Estimation 
to  be  numbered.  Beside  that  City  is  a  Hill  of  Salt,  and  of 
that  Salt  every  Man  taketh  what  he  will  to  salt  with,  to  his 
Need.  There  dwell  many  Christian  Men  under  Tribute  of 
Saracens. 

And  from  that  City,  Men  pass  by  many  Towns  and  Castles 
in  going  toward  Ind  unto  the  City  of  Sadonia,  that  is  a  10 
Days'  Journey  from  Thauriso,  and  it  is  a  full  noble  City  and 
a  great.  And  there  dwelleth  the  Emperor  of  Persia  in  Sum- 
mer ;  for  the  Country  is  cold  enough.  And  there  be  good 
Rivers  bearing  Ships. 

After  go  Men  the  way  toward  Ind  by  many  Days'  Jour- 
neys, and  by  many  Countries,  unto  the  City  that  is  clept 
Cassak,  that  is  a  full  noble  City,  and  a  plenteous  of  Corns 
and  Wines  and  of  all  other  Goods.  This  is  the  City  where 
the  3  Kings  met  together  when  they  went  to  seek  our  Lord 
in  Bethlehem  to  worship  Him  and  to  present  Him  with  Gold, 
Incense  and  Myrrh.  And  it  is  from  that  City  to  Bethlehem 
53  Days'  Journey.     From  that  City  Men  go  to  another  City 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  93 

that  is  clept  Gethe,  that  is  a  Day's  Journey  from  the  Sea 
that  Men  call  the  Gravelly  Sea.  That  is  the  best  City  that 
the  Emperor  of  Persia  hath  in  all  his  Land.  And  they  call 
it  there  Chardabago  ^  and  others  call  it  Vapa,  And  the  Pay- 
nims  say  that  no  Christian  Man  may  long  dwell  or  endure 
with  his  Life  in  that  City,  but  dieth  within  short  Time ;  and 
no  Man  knoweth  the  Cause. 

After  go  Men  by  many  Cities  and  Towns  and  great  Coun- 
tries that  it  were  too  long  to  tell  unto  the  City  of  Cornaa 
that  was  wont  to  be  so  great  that  the  Walls  about  hold  25 
Mile.     The  Walls  shew  yet,  but  it  is  not  all  inhabited. 

From  Cornaa  go  Men  by  many  Lands  and  many  Cities 
and  Towns  unto  the  Land  of  Job.  And  there  endeth  the 
Land  of  the  Emperor  of  Persia. 

And  if  ye  will  know  the  Letters  of  the  Persians,  and  what 
Names  they  have,  they  be  such  as  I  last  advised  you  of,  but 
not  in  sounding  of  their  Words. 

1  "  La  Char  d'Abago,"  in  the  French  MS. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

Of  the  Land  of  Job  ;  and  of  his  Age.  Of  the  Array  of  Men  of 
Chaldea.  Of  the  Land  where  Women  dwell  withoiit  Company 
of  Men.     Of  the  Knowledge  and  Virtues  of  the  true  Diamond 

AFTER  the  departing  from  Cornaa,  Men  enter  into  the 
Land  of  Job  that  is  a  full  fair  Country  and  a  plenteous 
of  all  Goods.  And  Men  call  that  Land  the  Land  of 
Susiana.     In  that  Land  is  the  City  of  Theman. 

Job  was  a  Paynim,  and  he  was  Son  of  Aram  of  Gosre,  and 
held  that  Land  as  Prince  of  that  Country.  And  he  was  so 
rich  that  he  knew  not  the  looth  Part  of  his  Goods.  And 
although  he  were  a  Paynim,  nevertheless  he  served  well  God 
after  his  Law.  And  our  Lord  took  his  Service  to  His  Pleasure. 
And  when  he  fell  in  Poverty  he  was  'jZ  Year  of  Age.  And 
after,  when  God  had  proved  his  Patience  that  it  was  so  great, 
He  brought  him  again  to  Riches  and  to  higher  Estate  than  he 
was  before.  And  after  that  he  was  King  of  Idumea  after 
King  Esau,  and  when  he  was  King  he  was  clept  Jobab.  And 
in  that  Kingdom  he  lived  after  that  170  Year.^  And  so  he 
was  of  Age,  when  he  died,  248  Year. 

In  that  Land  of  Job  there  is  no  Default  of  anything  that  is 
needful  to  Man's  Body.  There  be  Hills,  when  Men  get  great 
Plenty  of  Manna  in  greater  Abundance  than  in  any  other 
Country.  This  Manna  is  clept  Bread  of  Angels.  And  it  is  a 
white  Thing  that  is  full  sweet  and  right  delicious,  and  more 
sweet  than  Honey  or  Sugar.  And  it  cometh  of  the  Dew  of 
Heaven  that  falleth  upon,  the  Herbs  in  that  Country.  And 
it  congealeth  and  becometh  all  white  and  sweet.  And  Men 
put  it  in  Medicines  for  the  rich  to  make  the  Womb  lax,  and 
to  purge  evil  Blood.  For  it  cleanseth  the  Blood  and  putteth 
out  Melancholy.  This  Land  of  Job  marcheth  with  the  King- 
dom of  Chaldea. 

^  Job  xlii.  16;   140  years. 
94 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  95 

This  Land  of  Chaldea  is  full  great.  And  the  Language  of 
that  Country  is  more  great  in  sounding  than  it  is  in  other 
Parts  beyond  the  Sea.  Men  pass  to  go  beyond  by  the  Tower 
of  Babylon  the  Great,  of  the  which  I  have  told  you  before, 
where  that  all  the  Languages  were  first  changed.  And  that 
is  a  4  Days'  Journey  from  Chaldea.  In  that  Realm  be  fair 
Men  and  they  go  full  nobly  arrayed  in  Clothes  of  Gold,  or- 
frayed  and  apparelled  with  great  Pearls  and  precious  Stones 
full  nobly.  And  the  Women  be  right  foul  and  evil  arrayed. 
And  they  go  all  bare-foot  and  clothed  in  evil  Garments  large 
and  wide,  but  short  to  the  Knees,  and  long  Sleeves  down  to 
the  Feet  like  a  Monk's  Frock,  and  their  Sleeves  be  hanging 
about  their  Shoulders.  And  they  be  black  Women  foul  and 
hideous,  and  truly  they  be  as  foul  as  they  be  evil. 

In  that  Kingdom  of  Chaldea,  in  a  City  that  is  clept  Ur, 
dwelled  Terah,  Abraham's  Father.  And  there  was  Abraham 
born.  And  that  was  in  that  Time  that  Ninus  was  King  of 
Babylon,  of  Arabia  and  of  Egypt.  This  Ninus  made  the  City 
of  Nineveh,  the  which  Noah  had  begun  before.  And  because 
that  Ninus  performed  it,  he  called  it  Nineveh  after  his  own 
Name.  There  lieth  Tobit  the  Prophet,  of  whom  Holy  Writ 
speaketh.  And  from  that  City  of  Ur  Abraham  departed,  by 
the  Commandment  of  God,  from  thence,  after  the  Death  of 
his  Father,  and  led  with  him  Sarah  his  Wife  and  Lot  his 
Brother's  Son,  because  that  he  had  no  Child.  And  they  went 
to  dwell  in  the  Land  of  Canaan  in  a  Place  that  is  clept 
Shechem.  And  this  Lot  was  he  that  was  saved,  when  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  and  the  other  Cities  were  burnt  and  sunken 
down  to  Hell,  where  that  the  Dead  Sea  is  now,  as  I  have  told 
you  before.  In  that  Land  of  Chaldea  they  have  their  own 
Languages  and  their  own  Letters. 

Beside  the  Land  of  Chaldea  is  the  Land  of  Amazonia.  And 
in  that  Realm  are  all  Women  and  no  Men  ;  not,  as  some  Men 
say,  that  Men  may  not  live  there,  but  because  that  the  Women 
will  not  suffer  any  Men  amongst  them  to  be  their  Sovereigns. 

For  sometime  there  was  a  King  in  that  Country.  And 
Men  married,  as  in  other  Countries.  And  so  it  befell  that  the 
King  had  War  with  them  of  Scythia,  the  King  of  which  hight 
Colopeus,  that  was  slain  in  Battle,  and  all  the  good  Blood  of 
his  Realm.     And  when  the  Queen  and  all  the  other  noble 


96  MANDEVILLE 

Ladies  saw  that  they  were  all  Widows,  and  that  all  royal  Blood 
was  lost,  they  armed  them  and,  as  Creatures  out  of  their  Wit, 
they  slew  all  the  Men  of  the  Country  that  were  left ;  for  they 
would  that  all  the  Women  were  Widows  as  the  Queen  and 
they  were.  And  from  that  Time  hitherwards  they  never 
would  suffer  Man  to  dwell  amongst  them  longer  than  7  Days 
and  7  Nights  ;  nor  that  any  Child  that  were  Male  should  dwell 
amongst  them  longer  than  he  were  weaned ;  and  thereon  be 
sent  to  his  Father,  And  when  they  will  have  any  Company 
of  Man,  then  they  draw  them  towards  the  Lands  marching 
next  to  theirs.  And  then  they  have  Lovers  that  use  them  ; 
and  they  dwell  with  them  an  8  Days  or  10,  and  then  go  Home 
again.  And  if  they  have  any  Boy  Child  they  keep  it  a  certain 
Time,  and  then  send  it  to  the  Father  when  he  can  go  alone  and 
eat  by  himself ;  or  else  they  slay  it.  And  if  it  be  a  Female 
they  do  away  one  Pap  with  an  hot  Iron.  And  if  it  be  a 
Woman  of  great  Lineage  they  do  away  the  left  Pap  that  they 
may  the  better  bear  a  Shield.  And  if  it  be  a  Woman  of  simple 
Blood  they  do  away  the  right  Pap,  so  as  to  shoot  Turkeys, 
with  Bows ;  for  they  shoot  well  with  Bows. 

In  that  Land  they  have  a  Queen  that  governeth  all  that 
Land,  and  they  all  be  obeissant  to  her.  And  always  they 
make  her  Queen  by  Election  that  is  most  worthy  in  Arms  ; 
for  they  be  right  good  Warriors  and  wise,  noble  and  worthy. 
And  they  go  oftentime  in  Pay  to  help  other  Kings  in  their 
Wars,  for  Gold  and  Silver,  as  other  Soldiers  do  ;  and  they 
maintain  themselves  right  rigourously.  This  Land  of  Ama- 
zonia is  an  Isle,  all  environed  with  the  Sea  save  in  2  Places, 
where  be  2  Entries.  And  beyond  that  water  dwell  the  Men 
that  be  their  Paramours  and  their  Lovers,  where  they  go  to 
solace  them  when  they  will. 

Beside  Amazonia  is  the  Land  of  Tarmegyte  that  is  a  great 
Country  and  a  full  delectable.  And  for  the  Goodness  of  the 
Country  King  Alexander  first  had  made  there  the  City  of 
Alexandria,  and  yet  he  made  12  Cities  of  the  same  Name  ; 
but  that  City  is  now  clept  Celsite. 

And  from  that  other  Coast  of  Chaldea,  toward  the  South, 
is  Ethiopia,  a  great  Country  that  stretcheth  to  the  End  of 
Egypt.  Ethiopia  is  parted  in  2  principal  Parts,  that  is  the 
East  Part  and  the  Meridional  Part ;  the  which  Meridional  Part 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  97 

is  clept  Mauritania,  and  the  Folk  of  that  Country  be  black 
enough  and  more  black  than  in  the  tother  Part,  and  they  be 
clept  Moors.  In  that  Part  is  a  Well,  that  in  the  Day  it  is  so 
cold,  that  no  Man  may  drink  thereof ;  and  in  the  Night  it  is  so 
hot,  that  no  Man  may  suffer  his  Hand  therein.  And  beyond 
that  Part,  toward  the  South,  to  pass  by  the  Sea  Ocean,  is  a 
great  Land  and  a  great  Country ;  but  Men  may  not  dwell 
there  for  the  fervent  Burning  of  the  Sun,  so  passing  hot  is 
it  in  that  Country. 

In  Ethiopia  all  the  Rivers  and  all  the  Waters  be  troubled, 
and  they  be  somewhat  salt  for  the  great  Heat  that  is  there. 
And  the  Folk  of  that  Country  be  lightly  drunk  and  have  but 
little  Appetite  for  Meat.  And  they  have  commonly  the  Flux 
of  the  Womb.  And  they  live  not  long.  In  Ethiopia  be  many 
diverse  Folk ;  and  Ethiope  is  clept  Cusis.  In  that  Country 
be  Folk  that  have  but  one  Foot,  and  they  go  so  fast  that  it  is 
a  Marvel.  And  the  Foot  is  so  large,  that  it  shadoweth  all  the 
Body  against  the  Sun,  when  they  will  lie  and  rest  them.  In 
Ethiopia,  when  the  Children  be  young  and  little,  they  be  all 
yellow ;  and,  when  that  they  wax  of  Age,  that  Yellowness 
turneth  to  be  all  black.  In  Ethiopia  is  the  City  of  Saba,  and 
the  Land  of  the  which  was  King  one  of  the  3  Kings  that 
presented  Gifts  to  our  Lord  in  Bethlehem. 

From  Ethiopia  Men  go  to  Ind  by  many  diverse  Countries. 
And  Men  call  the  high  Ind,  Emlak.  And  Ind  is  divided  in  3 
principal  Parts  ;  that  is,  the  Greater,  that  is  a  full  hot  Country  ; 
and  Ind  the  Less,  that  is  a  full  temperate  Country,  that  stretch- 
eth  to  the  Land  of  Media;  and  the  third  Part  toward  the 
Septentrion  is  full  cold,  so  that,  for  pure  Cold  and  continual 
Frost,  the  Water  becometh  Crystal.  And  upon  the  Rocks  of 
Crystal  grow  the  good  Diamonds  that  be  of  troubled  Colour. 
Yellow  Crystal  draweth  Colour  like  Oil.  And  they  be  so  hard, 
that  no  Man  may  polish  them.  And  Men  call  them  Diamonds 
in  that  Country,  and  "  Hamese  "  in  another  Country.  Other 
Diamonds  Men  find  in  Arabia  that  be  not  so  good,  and  they 
be  more  brown  and  more  tender.  And  other  Diamonds  also 
Men  find  in  the  Isle  of  Cyprus,  that  be  yet  more  tender,  and 
them  Men  may  well  polish.  And  in  the  Land  of  Macedonia 
Men  find  Diamonds  also.  But  the  best  and  the  most  precious 
be  in  Ind. 

8 


98  MANDEVILLE 

And  Men  find  many  times  hard  Diamonds  in  a  Mass  that 
Cometh  out  of  Gold,  when  Men  purify  it  and  refine  it  out  of 
the  Mine  ;  when  Men  break  that  Mass  in  small  Pieces,  and 
sometime  it  happens  that  Men  find  some  as  great  as  Peas  and 
some  less,  and  they  be  as  hard  as  those  of  Ind. 

And  albeit  that  Men  find  good  Diamonds  in  Ind,  yet  never- 
theless Men  find  them  more  commonly  upon  the  Rocks  in  the 
Sea  and  upon  Hills  where  the  Mine  of  Gold  is.  And  they 
grow  many  together,  one  little,  another  great.  And  there  be 
some  of  the  Greatness  of  a  Bean  and  some  as  great  as  an  Hazel 
Nut.  And  they  be  square  and  pointed  of  their  own  Nature, 
both  above  and  beneath,  without  Working  of  Man's  Hand. 
And  they  grow  together,  Male  and  Female.  And  they  be 
nourished  with  the  Dew  of  Heaven.  And  they  engender 
commonly  and  bring  forth  small  Children,  that  multiply  and 
grow  all  the  Year.  I  have  often-times  assayed,  that  if  a  Man 
keep  them  with  a  little  of  the  Rock  and  wet  them  with  May- 
dew  oft  since,  they  shall  grow  every  Year,  and  the  small  will 
wax  great.  For  right  as  the  fine  Pearl  congealeth  and  waxeth 
great  of  the  Dew  of  Heaven,  right  so  doth  the  true  Diamond  ; 
and  right  as  the  Pearl  of  his  own  Nature  taketh  Roundness, 
right  so  the  Diamond,  by  Virtue  of  God,  taketh  Squareness. 
And  Men  shall  bear  the  Diamond  on  their  left  Side,  for  it  is  of 
greater  Virtue  then,  than  on  the  right  Side ;  for  the  Strength 
of  their  Growing  is  toward  the  North,  that  is  the  Left  side  of 
the  World,  and  the  left  Part  of  Man,  when  he  turneth  his 
Face  toward  the  East, 

And  if  you  like  to  know  the  Virtues  of  the  Diamond  (as 
Men  may  find  in  the  "  Lapidary,"  ^  that  many  Men  know  not), 
I  shall  tell  you,  as  they  beyond  the  Sea  say  and  affirm,  of 
whom  all  Science  and  all  Philosophy  cometh.  He  that  beareth 
the  Diamond  upon  him,  it  giveth  him  Hardiness  and  Manhood, 
and  it  keepeth  the  Limbs  of  his  Body  whole.  It  giveth  him 
Victory  of  his  Enemies  in  Pleading  and  in  War,  if  his  Cause 
be  rightful.  And  it  keepeth  him  that  beareth  it  in  good  Wit. 
And  it  keepeth  him  from  Strife  and  Riot,  from  Sorrows 
and  from  Enchantments,  and  from  Fantasies  and  Illusions  of 
wicked    Spirits.      And   if   any   cursed   Witch  or  Enchanter 

^  The  "Liber  Lapidarius,"  a  popular  treatise  of  tlie  Middle  Ages  on  the 
virtue  of  precious  stones. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  99 

would  bewitch  him  that  beareth  the  Diamond,  all  that  Sorrow 
and  Mischance  shall  turn  to  himself  through  Virtue  of  that 
Stone.  And  also  no  wild  Beast  dare  assail  the  Man  that 
beareth  it  on  him.  Also  the  Diamond  should  be  given 
freely,  without  Coveting  and  without  Buying,  and  then  it  is 
of  greater  Virtue.  And  it  maketh  a  Man  more  strong  and 
more  stalwart  against  his  Enemies.  And  it  healeth  him  that 
is  lunatic,  and  him  that  the  Fiend  pursueth  or  travaileth.  And 
if  Venom  or  Poison  be  brought  in  Presence  of  the  Diamond, 
anon  it  beginneth  to  wax  moist  and  to  sweat. 

There  be  also  Diamonds  in  Ind  that  be  clept  "  Violastres," 
for  their  Colour  is  like  Violet,  or  more  brown  than  Violets, 
that  be  full  hard  and  full  precious.  But  yet  some  Men  love  not 
them  so  well  as  the  other ;  but,  in  sooth,  for  me,  I  would  love 
them  as  much  as  the  other,  for  I  have  seen  them  assayed. 

Also  there  is  another  Manner  of  Diamonds  that  be  all 
white  as  Crystal,  but  they  be  a  little  more  troubled.  And 
they  be  good  and  of  great  Virtue,  and  they  all  be  square  and 
pointed  of  their  own  Nature.  And  some  be  6  squared,  some 
4  squared,  and  some  3  as  Nature  shapeth  them.  And  there- 
fore when  great  Lords  and  Knights  go  to  seek  Worship  in 
Arms,  they  bear  gladly  the  Diamond  upon  them. 

I  shall  speak  a  little  more  of  the  Diamonds,  although  I 
tarry  my  Matter  for  a  Time,  to  the  End,  that  they  that  know 
them  not,  be  not  deceived  by  Charlatans  who  go  through  the 
Country  and  sell  them.  For  whoso  will  buy  Diamonds  it  is 
needful  to  him  that  he  know  them.  Because  that  Men  coun- 
terfeit them  often  of  Crystal  that  is  yellow  and  of  Sapphires 
of  citron  Colour  that  is  yellow  also,  and  of  the  Sapphire 
Loupe  and  of  many  other  Stones.  But  I  tell  you  these 
Counterfeits  be  not  so  hard ;  and  also  the  Points  will  break 
lightly,  and  Men  may  easily  polish  them.  But  some  Work- 
men, for  Malice,  will  not  polish  them  ;  to  that  Intent,  to 
make  Men  believe  that  they  may  not  be  polished.  But  Men 
may  assay  them  in  this  Manner.  First  cut  with  them  or 
write  with  them  on  Sapphires  or  Crystals  or  on  other  pre- 
cious Stones.  After  that.  Men  take  the  Adamant  that  is  the 
Shipman's  Stone  that  draweth  the  Needle  to  him,  and  lay 
the  Needle  before  the  Adamant ;  and,  if  the  Diamond  be 
good  and  virtuous,  the  Adamant  draweth  not  the  Needle  to 


100  MANDEVILLE 

him,  whiles  the  Diamond  is  there  present.     And  this  is  the 
Proof  that  they  beyond  the  Sea  make. 

Nevertheless  it  befalleth  often-time,  that  the  good  Diamond 
loseth  his  Virtue  by  Sin,  and  for  Incontinence  of  him  that 
beareth  it.  And  then  it  is  needful  to  make  it  recover  his 
Virtue  again,  or  else  it  is  of  little  Value. 


CHAPTER   XV 

Of  the  Customs  of  Isles  about  Ind.  Of  the  Difference  betwixt  Idols 
a?id  Simulacres.  Of  3  Manners  of  Pepper  growing  upon  one  Tree. 
Of  the  Well  that  changeth  his  Odour  every  Hour  of  the  Day  ;  and 
that  is  a  Maivel 

IN  Ind  be  full  many  diverse  Countries.  And  it  is  clept 
Ind,  from  a  River  that  runneth  throughout  the  Country 
that  is  clept  Indus.  In  that  River  Men  find  Eels  of  30 
Foot  long  and  more.  And  the  Folk  that  dwell  nigh  that 
Water  be  of  evil  Colour,  green  and  yellow. 

In  Ind  and  about  Ind  be  more  than  5000  Isles  good  and 
great  that  Men  dwell  in,  without  those  that  be  uninhabitable, 
and  without  other  small  Isles.  In  every  Isle  is  great  Plenty 
of  Cities,  of  Towns,  and  of  Folk  without  Number.  For  Men 
of  Ind  have  this  Condition  of  Nature,  that  they  never  go 
out  of  their  own  Country,  and  therefore  is  there  great  Multi- 
tude of  People.  But  they  be  not  stirring  or  movable,  because 
that  they  be  in  the  First  Climate  that  is  of  Saturn  ;  and  Sat- 
urn is  slow  and  little  moving,  for  he  tarryeth  to  make  his 
Turn  by  the  12  Signs  30  Year.  And  the  Moon  passeth 
through  the  12  Signs  in  one  Month.  And  because  that  Sat- 
urn is  of  so  late  (or  tardy)  Stirring,  therefore  the  Folk  of  that 
Country  that  be  under  his  Climate  have  of  Nature  no  Will  to 
move  nor  stir  to  seek  strange  Places.  And  in  our  Country  is 
all  the  contrary ;  for  we  be  in  the  7th  Climate,  that  is  of  the 
Moon.  And  the  Moon  is  lightly  moving,  and  the  Moon  is  a 
Planet  of  Way  (or  Progression),  and  for  that  Reason  it  giveth 
us  Will  of  Nature  to  move  lightly  and  to  go  divers  Ways, 
and  to  seek  strange  Things  and  Diversities  of  the  World  ; 
for  the  Moon  environeth  the  Earth  more  hastily  than  any 
other  Planet. 

Also  Men  go  through  Ind  by  many  divers  Countries  to  the 
great  Sea  Ocean.     And  after,  Men  find  there  an  Isle  that 


I02  MANDEVILLE 

is  clept  Ormuz.  And  thither  come  Merchants  of  Venice 
and  Genoa, -and  of.  other  Coasts,  to  buy  Merchandises.  But 
theieis  so^greafHeat  in  those  Coasts,  and  especially  in  that 
Isle;  thai;,  for.'  the  great.  Distress  of  the  Heat,  Men  suffer 
from  the  great  Dissolution  of  the  Body,  And  Men  of  that 
Country,  that  know  the  Manner,  let  bind  themselves  up,  or 
else  might  they  not  live,  and  anoint  themselves  with  Oint- 
ments made  therefore. 

In  that  Country  and  in  Ethiopia,  and  in  many  other  Coun- 
tries, the  Folk  lie  all  naked  in  Rivers  and  Waters,  Men  and 
Women  together,  from  Undurn  (9  o'clock)  of  the  Day  till  it 
be  past  the  Noon.  And  they  lie  all  in  the  Water  save  the 
Visage  for  the  great  Heat  that  there  is.  And  the  Women  have 
no  Shame  of  the  Men,  but  lie  all  together.  Side  to  Side,  till 
the  Heat  be  past.  There  may  Men  see  many  foul  Figures 
assembled,  and  especially  nigh  the  good  Towns. 

In  that  Isle  be  Ships  without  Nails  of  Iron  or  Bonds, 
because  of  the  Rocks  of  the  Adamants,  of  which  that  Sea 
is  all  full  thereabout,  that  it  is  a  Marvel  to  speak  of.  And 
if  a  Ship  passed  by  those  Coasts  that  had  either  Iron  Bonds 
or  Iron  Nails  anon  he  should  be  perished ;  for  the  Adamant 
of  his  Nature  draweth  the  Iron  to  him.  And  so  would  it 
draw  to  him  the  Ship  because  of  the  Iron,  that  it  should 
never  depart  from  him,  nor  ever  go  thence. 

From  that  Isle  Men  go  by  Sea  to  another  Isle  that  is  clept 
Chana,  where  is  great  Plenty  of  Corn  and  Wine.  And  it 
was  wont  to  be  a  great  Isle,  and  a  great  Haven  and  a  good ; 
but  the  Sea  hath  greatly  wasted  it  and  overcome  it.  The 
King  of  that  Country  was  wont  to  be  so  strong  and  so  mighty 
that  he  held  War  against  King  Alexander. 

The  Folk  of  that  Country  have  diverse  Laws.  For  some 
of  them  worship  the  Sun,  some  the  Moon,  some  the  Fire, 
some  Trees,  some  Serpents,  or  the  first  Thing  that  they 
meet  of  a  Morning.  And  some  worship  Simulacres  and 
some  Idols.  But  between  Simulacres  and  Idols  is  a  great 
Difference.  For  Simulacres  be  Images  made  after  Likeness 
J  of  Men  or  of  Women,  or  of  the  Sun,  or  of  the  Moon,  or  of 
any  Beast,  or  of  any  natural  Thing.  And  an  Idol  is  an  Image 
made  of  lewd  Will  of  Man,  that  Man  may  not  find  among 
natural  Things,  as  an  Image  that  hath  4  Heads,  one  of  a  Man, 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  IO3 

another  of  an  Horse,  or  of  an  Ox,  or  of  some  other  Beast 
that  no  Man  hath  seen  after  natural  Disposition. 

And  they  that  worship  Simulacres,  they  worship  them  for 
some  worthy  Man  that  was  sometime,  as  Hercules,  and  many 
other  that  did  many  Marvels  in  their  Time.  For  they  say 
well  that  they  be  not  Gods  ;  for  they  know  well  that  there 
is  a  God  of  Nature  that  made  all  Things,  the  which  is  in 
Heaven.  But  they  know  well  that  such  an  one  might  not 
do  the  Marvels  that  he  made,  but  if  it  had  been  by  the 
special  Gift  of  God  ;  and  therefore  they  say  that  he  was  well 
with  God,  and  because  he  was  so  well  with  God,  therefore 
they  worship  him.  And  so  say  they  of  the  Sun,  because  that 
it  changeth  the  Time,  and  giveth  Heat,  and  nourisheth  all 
Things  upon  Earth  ;  and  because  it  is  of  so  great  Profit,  they 
know  well  that  that  might  not  be,  but  that  God  loveth  it 
more  than  any  other  Thing,  and,  for  that  Reason,  God  hath 
given  it  more  great  Virtue  in  the  World.  Therefore,  it  is 
good  Reason,  as  they  say,  to  do  it  Worship  and  Reverence. 
And  so  say  they,  that  make  their  Reasons,  of  other  Planets, 
and  of  the  Fire  also,  because  it  is  so  profitable. 

And  of  Idols  they  say  also  that  the  Ox  is  the  most  holy 
Beast  that  is  in  the  Earth  and  most  patient,  and  more  profit- 
able than  any  other.  For  he  doth  Good  enough  and  doth  no 
Evil;  and  they  know  well  that  it  may  not  be  without  special 
Grace  of  God.  And  therefore  make  they  their  God  of  an  Ox 
the  one  Part,  and  the  other  Half  End  of  a  Man.  Because  that 
Man  is  the  most  noble  Creature  in  Earth,  and  also  because 
he  hath  Lordship  above  all  Beasts,  therefore  make  they  the 
Half  End  of  the  Idol  a  Man  upwards  ;  and  the  tother  Half 
they  make  of  an  Ox  downwards,  and  of  Serpents,  and  of 
other  Beasts  and  divers  Things,  that  they  worship,  that  they 
meet  first  of  a  Morning. 

And  they  worship  also  specially  all  those  that  they  have  good 
Meeting  of  when,  after  their  Meeting,  they  speed  well  on 
their  Journey,  and  specially  such  as  they  have  proved  and 
assayed  by  Experience  of  long  Time ;  for  they  say  that  this 
same  good  Meeting  may  not  come  but  of  the  Grace  of  God. 
And  therefore  they  make  Images  like  to  those  Things  that 
they  have  Belief  in,  to  behold  them  and  worship  them  first  of 
a  Morning,  ere  they  meet  any  contrarious  Things.     And  there 


104  MANDEVILLE 

be  also  some  Christian  Men  that  say,  that  some  Beasts  have 
good  Meeting,  that  is  to  say  to  meet  with  them  first  of  a 
Morning,  and  some  Beasts  wicked  Meeting,  and  that  they 
have  proved  oft-time  that  the  Hare  hath  full  evil  Meeting, 
and  Swine  and  many  other  Beasts.  And  the  Sparrow-hawk 
and  other  Fowls  of  Rapine,  when  they  fly  after  their  Prey  and 
take  it  before  Men  of  Arms,  it  is  a  good  Sign  ;  and  if  they 
fail  of  taking  their  Prey,  it  is  an  evil  Sign.  And  also  to  such 
Folk,  it  is  an  evil  Meeting  of  Ravens. 

In  these  Things  and  in  such  other,  there  be  many  Folk 
that  believe,  because  it  happeneth  so  often-time  to  fall  after 
their  Fantasies.  And  also  there  be  Men  enough  that  have 
no  Belief  in  them.  And,  since  that  Christian  Men  have  such 
Belief,  that  be  informed  and  taught  all  Day  by  holy  Doctrine, 
wherein  they  should  believe,  it  is  no  Marvel  then,  that  the 
Paynims,  that  have  no  good  Doctrine  but  only  of  their  Nature, 
believe  more  largely  for  their  Simpleness.  And  truly  I  have 
seen  Paynims  and  Saracens  that  Men  call  Augurs,  that,  when 
we  rode  in  Arms  in  divers  Countries  upon  our  Enemies,  they 
would  tell  us  by  the  Flying  of  Fowls  the  Prognostications  of 
Things  that  fell  after;  and  so  they  did  full  oftentimes,  and 
proffered  their  Heads  to  Pledge,  that  it  would  fall  as  they 
said.  But  nevertheless,  therefore  should  not  a  Man  put  his 
Belief  in  such  Things,  but  always  have  full  Trust  and  Belief 
in  God  our  Sovereign  Lord. 

This  Isle  of  Chana  the  Saracens  have  won  and  hold.  In 
that  Isle  be  many  Lions  and  many  other  wild  Beasts.  And 
there  be  Rats  in  that  Isle  as  great  as  Hounds  here;  and  Men 
take  them  with  great  Mastiffs,  for  Cats  may  not  take  them. 
In  this  Isle  and  many  others  Men  bury  not  any  dead  Men,  for 
the  Heat  is  there  so  great,  that  in  a  little  Time  the  Flesh  will 
consume  from  the  Bones. 

From  thence  Men  go  by  Sea  toward  Ind  the  More  to  a 
City,  that  Men  call  Sarche,  that  is  a  fair  City  and  a  good. 
And  there  dwell  many  Christian  Men  of  good  Faith.  And 
there  be  many  religious  Men,  and  especially  Mendicants. 

After  go  Men  by  Sea  to  the  Land  of  Lomb.  In  that  Land 
groweth  the  Pepper  in  the  Forest  that  Men  call  Combar. 
And  it  groweth  nowhere  else  in  all  the  World,  but  in  that 
Forest,  and  that  endureth  well  an  i8  Days'  Journey  in  Length. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  10$ 

In  the  Forest  be  2  good  Cities;  the  one  is  hight  Fladrine 
and  the  other  Zinglantz,  and  in  each  of  them  dwell  Christian 
Men  and  Jews,  great  Plenty.  For  it  is  a  good  Country  and 
a  plentiful,  but  there  is  overmuch  passing  Heat. 

And  ye  shall  understand  that  the  Pepper  groweth  in  man- 
ner as  doth  a  wild  Vine  and  is  planted  near  by  the  Trees  of 
that  Wood  to  sustain  it,  and  hangeth  as  doth  the  Vine,  And 
the  Fruit  thereof  hangeth  in  the  manner  of  Raisins.  And 
the  Tree  is  so  thick  charged,  that  it  seemeth  that  it  would 
break.  And  when  it  is  ripe  it  is  all  green,  as  it  were  Ivy 
Berries.  And  then  Men  cut  them,  as  Men  do  the  Vines,  and 
then  they  put  them  upon  an  Oven,  and  there  they  wax  black 
and  crisp.  And  there  are  3  Manners  of  Pepper  all  upon  one 
Tree :  Long  Pepper,  Black  Pepper  and  White  Pepper.  The 
Long  Pepper  Men  call  "Sorbotin,"  and  the  Black  Pepper  is 
clept  "  Fulfulle,"  and  the  White  Pepper  is  clept  "  Bano."  The 
Long  Pepper  cometh  first  when  the  Leaf  beginneth  to  come, 
and  it  is  like  the  Catkins  of  Hazel  that  come  before  the  Leaf, 
and  it  hangeth  low.  And  after  cometh  the  Black  with  the 
Leaf,  in  manner  of  Clusters  of  Raisins,  all  green.  And  when 
Men  have  gathered  it,  then  cometh  the  White  that  is  some- 
what less  than  the  Black.  And  of  that  Men  bring  but  little 
into  this  Country  ;  for  they  beyond  withhold  it  for  themselves, 
because  it  is  better  and  more  temperate  in  its  Nature  than 
the  Black.  And  therefore  is  there  not  so  great  Plenty  as  of 
the  Black. 

In  that  Country  be  many  manner  of  Serpents  and  of  other 
Vermin  for  the  great  Heat  of  the  Country  and  of  the  Pepper. 
And  some  Men  say,  that  when  they  will  gather  the  Pepper, 
they  make  Fires,  and  burn  thereabout  to  make  the  Serpents 
and  the  Cockodrills  to  flee.  But  save  their  Grace  of  all  that 
say  so.i  For  if  they  burnt  about  the  Trees  that  bear,  the 
Pepper  would  be  burnt,  and  it  would  dry  up  all  the  Virtue,  as 
of  any  other  Thing ;  and  then  would  they  do  themselves 
much  Harm,  and  they  would  never  quench  the  Fire.  But 
thus  they  do :  they  anoint  their  Hands  and  their  Feet  with  a 
Juice  made  of  Limes  and  of  other  Things  made  therefore,  of 
the  which  the  Serpents  and  the  venomous  Beasts  hate  and 
dread  the  Savour ;  and  that  maketh  them  flee  before  them, 

^  Maundevile  apologises  for  denying  this  statement. 


I06  MANDEVILLE 

because  of  the  Smell,  and  they  gather  the  Pepper  surely 
enough. 

And  toward  the  Head  of  that  Forest  is  the  City  of 
Polombe.  And  above  the  City  is  a  great  Mountain  that 
also  is  clept  Polombe.  And  of  that  Mount  the  City  hath 
his  Name. 

And  at  the  Foot  of  that  Mount  is  a  fair  Well  and  a  great, 
that  hath  Odour  and  Savour  of  all  Spices.  And  at  every 
Hour  of  the  Day  he  changeth  his  Odour  and  his  Savour 
diversely.  And  whoso  drinketh  3  Times  fasting  of  that 
Water  of  that  Well  he  is  whole  of  all  Manner  of  Sickness 
that  he  hath.  And  they  that  dwell  there  and  drink  often  of 
that  Well  they  never  have  Sickness  ;  and  they  seem  always 
young.  I  have  drunken  thereof  3  or  4  Times,  and,  methink- 
eth,  I  fare  the  better  yet.  Some  Men  call  it  the  "  Well  of 
Youth."  For  they  that  often  drink  thereof  seem  always 
young-like,  and  live  without  Sickness.  And  Men  say,  that 
that  Well  cometh  out  of  Paradise,  and  therefore  it  is  so 
virtuous. 

By  all  that  Country  groweth  good  Ginger,  and  therefore 
thither  go  the  Merchants  for  Spicery. 

In  that  Land  Men  worship  the  Ox  for  his  Simpleness  and 
for  his  Meekness,  and  for  the  Profit  that  cometh  of  him.  And 
they  say  that  he  is  the  holiest  Beast  on  Earth.  For  it  seem- 
eth  them  that  whosoever  be  meek  and  patient,  he  is  holy  and 
profitable;  for  then,  they  say,  he  hath  all  Virtues  in  him. 
They  make  the  Ox  to  labour  6  Year  or  7,  and  then  they  eat 
him.  And  the  King  of  the  Country  hath  ahvay  an  Ox  with 
him.  And  he  that  keepeth  him  hath  every  Day  great  Fees, 
and  keepeth  every  Day  his  Dung  and  his  Urine  in  2  Vessels 
of  Gold,  and  brings  it  before  their  Prelate  that  they  call 
"  Archi-protopapaton."  And  he  beareth  it  before  the  King 
and  maketh  there  over  a  great  Blessing.  And  then  the  King 
wetteth  his  Hands  there,  in  that  they  call  Gall,  and  anointeth 
his  Fore-head  and  his  Breast.  And  after,  he  fretteth  him 
with  the  Dung  and  with  the  Urine  with  great  Reverence,  to 
be  filled  full  of  Virtues  of  the  Ox  and  made  holy  by  the  Vir- 
tue of  that  holy  Thing  that  is  worth  Nought.  And  when 
the  King  hath  done,  then  do  so  the  Lords ;  and  after  them 
their  Ministers  and  other  Men,  if  they  have  any  remaining. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  10/ 

In  that  Country  they  make  Idols,  half  Man  half  Ox.  And 
in  those  Idols  evil  Spirits  speak  and  give  Answer  to  Men  of 
what  is  asked  them.  Before  these  Idols  Men  many  times 
slay  their  Children,  and  sprinkle  the  Blood  upon  the  Idols  ; 
and  so  they  make  their  Sacrifice. 

And  when  any  Man  dieth  in  the  Country  they  burn  his 
Body  in  Name  of  Penance ;  to  that  Intent,  that  he  suffer  no 
Pain  on  Earth  to  be  eaten  of  Worms.  And  if  his  Wife  have 
no  Child  they  burn  her  with  him,  and  say  that  the  Reason 
is,  that  she  shall  make  him  Company  in  that  other  World  as 
she  did  in  this.  But  and  she  have  Children  by  him,  they  let 
her  live  with  them,  to  bring  them  up  if  she  will.  And  if  that 
she  love  more  to  hve  with  her  Children  than  to  die  with  her 
Husband,  Men  hold  her  for  false  and  cursed ;  nor  shall  she 
ever  be  loved  or  trusted  of  the  People.  And  if  the  Woman 
die  before  the  Husband,  Men  burn  him  with  her,  if  that  he 
will ;  and  if  he  will  not,  no  Man  constraineth  him  thereto, 
but  he  may  wed  another  time  without  Blame  and  Reproof. 

In  that  Country  grow  many  strong  Vines.  And  the  Women 
drink  Wine,  and  Men  not.  And  the  Women  shave  their 
Beards,  and  the  Men  not. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

Of  the  Judgments  made  by  St.  Thomas.  Of  Devotion  and  Sacrifice 
made  to  Idols  there,  in  the  City  of  Calamye  ;  and  of  the  Procession 
in  the  going  about  the  City 

FROM  that  Country  Men  pass  by  many  Borders  toward 
a  Country,  a  lo  Days'  Journey  thence,  that  is  clept 
Mabaron  ;  and  it  is  a  great  Kingdom,  and  it  hath  many 
fair  Cities  and  Towns. 

In  that  Kingdom  lieth  the  Body  of  Saint  Thomas  the 
Apostle  in  Flesh  and  Bone,  in  a  fair  Tomb  in  the  City  of 
Calamye ;  for  there  he  was  martyred  and  buried.  But  Men 
of  Assyria  bare  his  Body  into  Mesopotamia  into  the  City  of 
Edessa,  and  after,  he  was  brought  thither  again.  And  the 
Arm  and  the  Hand  that  he  put  in  our  Lord's  Side,  when  He 
appeared  to  him  after  His  Resurrection  and  said  to  him, 
"  Noli  esse  incredulus,  set  fidelis  "  ("  Be  not  faithless,  but  be- 
lieving "),  are  yet  lying  in  a  Vessel  without  the  Tomb.  And 
by  that  Hand  they  make  all  their  Judgments  in  the  Country, 
whoso  hath  Right  or  Wrong.  For  when  there  is  any  Dissen- 
sion between  2  Parties,  and  each  of  them  maintaineth  his 
Cause,  and  one  saith  that  his  Cause  is  rightful,  and  that  other 
saith  the  contrary,  then  both  Parties  write  their  Causes  on 
2  Bills  and  put  them  in  the  Hand  of  Saint  Thomas.  And 
anon  he  casteth  away  the  Bill  of  the  wrong  Cause  and  holdeth 
still  the  Bill  with  the  right  Cause.  And  therefore  Men  come 
from  far  Countries  to  have  Judgment  of  doubtable  Causes. 
And  other  Judgment  use  they  not  there. 

Also  the  Church,  where  Saint  Thomas  lieth,  is  both  great 
and  fair,  and  all  full  of  great  Simulacres,  and  those  be  great 
Images  that  they  call  their  Gods,  of  the  which  the  least  is  as 
great  as  2  Men. 

And,  amongst  these,  there  is  an  Image  more  great  than  any 
of  the  other,  that  is  all  covered  with  fine  gold  and  precious 
Stones  and  rich  Pearls ;   and  that  Idol  is  the  God  of  false 

108 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  IO9 

Christians  that  have  denied  their  Faith.  And  it  sitteth  in 
a  Chair  of  Gold,  full  nobly  arrayed,  and  he  hath  about  his 
Neck  large  Girdles  wrought  of  Gold  and  precious  Stones  and 
Pearls.  And  this  Church  is  full  richly  wrought  and,  all  over, 
gilt  within.  And  to  that  Idol  go  Men  on  Pilgrimage,  as  com- 
monly and  with  as  great  Devotion  as  Christian  Men  go  to 
Saint  James,  or  on  other  holy  Pilgrimages.  And  many  Folk 
that  come  from  far  Lands  to  seek  that  Idol  for  the  great  De- 
votion that  they  have,  they  look  never  upward,  but  evermore 
down  to  the  Earth,  for  Dread  to  see  anything  about  them  that 
should  hinder  them  of  their  Devotion.  And  some  there  be 
that  go  on  Pilgrimage  to  this  Idol,  that  bear  Knives  in  their 
Hands,  that  be  made  full  keen  and  sharp  ;  and  always,  as  they 
go,  they  smite  themselves  in  their  Arms  and  in  their  Legs 
and  in  their  Thighs  with  many  hideous  Wounds  ;  and  so  they 
shed  their  Blood  for  Love  of  that  Idol.  And  they  say,  that 
he  is  blessed  and  holy,  that  dieth  so  for  Love  of  his  God. 
And  other  there  be  that  lead  their  Children  to  slay,  to  make 
Sacrifice  to  that  Idol ;  and  after  they  have  slain  them  they 
sprinkle  the  Blood  upon  the  Idol.  And  some  there  be  that 
come  from  far ;  and  in  going  toward  this  Idol,  at  every  3rd 
Pace  that  they  go  from  their  House,  they  kneel ;  and  so  con- 
tinue, till  they  come  thither :  and  when  they  come  there, 
they  take  Incense  and  other  aromatic  Things  of  noble  Smell, 
and  perfume  the  Idol,  as  we  would  do  here  God's  precious 
Body.  And  so  come  Folk  to  worship  this  Idol,  some  from 
an  100  Mile,  and  some  from  many  more. 

And  before  the  Minster  of  this  Idol,  is  a  Vivary  (or  Fish 
Pool),  in  manner  of  a  great  Lake,  full  of  Water.  And  therein 
Pilgrims  cast  Gold  and  Silver,  Pearls  and  precious  Stones 
without  Number,  instead  of  Offerings.  And  when  the  Min- 
isters of  that  Church  need  to  make  any  Reparation  of  the 
Church  or  of  any  of  the  Idols,  they  take  Gold  and  Silver, 
Pearls  and  precious  Stones  out  of  the  Vivary,  to  acquit  the 
Cost  of  such  Thing  as  they  make  or  repair ;  so  that  nothing 
is  faulty,  but  anon  it  shall  be  amended. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  when  be  great  Feasts  and 
Solemnities  of  that  Idol,  such  as  the  Dedication  of  the  Church 
and  the  Throning  of  the  Idol,  all  the  Country  about  meet 
there  together.     And  they  set  this  Idol  upon  a  Chariot  with 


I  lO  MANDEVILLE 

great  Reverence,  well  arrayed  with  Cloths  of  Gold,  of  rich 
Cloths  of  Tartary,  of  Camaka,  and  other  precious  Cloths. 
And  they  lead  him  about  the  City  with  great  Solemnity. 
And  before  the  Chariot  go  first  in  Procession  all  the  Maidens 
of  the  Country  2  and  2  together  full  orderly.  And  after  those 
Maidens  go  the  Pilgrims.  And  some  of  them  fall  down  under 
the  Wheels  of  the  Chariot,  and  let  the  Chariot  go  over  them, 
so  that  they  be  dead  anon.  And  some  have  their  Arms  or 
their  Limbs  all  broken,  and  some  the  Sides.  And  all  this 
they  do  for  Love  of  their  God,  in  great  Devotion.  And  they 
think,  that  the  more  Pain,  and  the  more  Tribulation  that  they 
suffer  for  Love  of  their  God,  the  more  Joy  they  shall  have  in 
another  World.  And,  shortly  to  tell  you,  they  suffer  so  great 
Pains,  and  so  hard  Martyrdoms  for  Love  of  their  Idol,  that  a 
Christian  Man,  I  trow,  durst  not  take  upon  him  the  loth  Part 
of  the  Pain  for  Love  of  our  Lord  Jesu  Christ.  And  after,  I 
say  to  you,  before  the  Chariot,  go  all  the  Minstrels  of  the 
Country  without  Number,  with  divers  Instruments,  and  they 
make  all  the  Melody  that  they  can. 

And  when  they  have  gone  all  about  the  City,  then  they 
return  again  to  the  Minster,  and  put  the  Idol  again  into  his 
Place.  And  then  for  the  Love  and  in  Worship  of  that  Idol, 
and  for  the  Reverence  of  the  Feast,  they  slay  themselves,  a 
200  or  300  Persons,  with  sharp  Knives,  and  bring  the  Bodies 
before  the  Idol.  And  then  they  say  that  those  be  Saints,  be- 
cause that  they  slew  themselves  of  their  own  good  Will  for 
Love  of  their  Idol.  And  as  Men  here  that  had  an  holy  Saint 
of  their  Kin  would  think  that  it  were  to  them  an  high  Wor- 
ship, right  so  they  think  there.  And  as  Men  here  devoutly 
would  write  holy  Saints'  Lives  and  their  Miracles,  and  make 
Suit  to  have  them  canonised,  right  so  do  they  there  for  them 
that  slay  themselves  wilfully  for  Love  of  their  Idol,  and  say, 
that  they  be  glorious  Martyrs  and  Saints,  and  put  them  in 
their  Writings  and  in  their  Litanies,  and  vaunt  them  greatly, 
one  to  another,  of  their  holy  Kinsmen  that  so  become  Saints, 
and  say,  "  I  have  more  holy  Saints  in  my  Kindred,  than  thou 
in  thine ! " 

And  the  Custom  also  there  is  this,  that  when  he  that  hath 
such  Devotion  and  Intent  will  slay  himself  for  Love  of  his 
God,  they  send  for  all  their  Friends,  and  have  great  Plenty 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  III 

of  Minstrels ;  and  they  go  before  the  Idol  leading  him  that 
will  slay  himself  for  such  Devotion  between  them,  with  great 
Reverence.  And  he,  all  naked,  hath  a  full  sharp  Knife  in  his 
Hand,  and  he  cutteth  a  great  Piece  of  his  Flesh,  and  casteth  it 
in  the  Face  of  his  Idol,  saying  his  Orisons,  recommending 
himself  to  his  God.  And  then  he  smiteth  himself  and  maketh 
great  Wounds  and  deep,  here  and  there,  till  he  fall  down 
dead.  And  then  his  Friends  present  his  Body  to  the  Idol. 
And  then  say,  singing,  "  Holy  God !  behold  what  thy  true 
Servant  hath  done  for  thee.  He  hath  forsaken  his  Wife  and 
his  Children  and  his  Riches,  and  all  the  Goods  of  the  World 
and  his  own  Life  for  the  Love  of  thee,  and  to  make  the  Sacri- 
fice of  his  Flesh  and  of  his  Blood.  Wherefore,  Holy  God,  put 
him  among  thy  best  beloved  Saints  in  the  Bliss  of  Paradise, 
for  he  hath  well  deserved  it."  And  then  they  make  a  great 
Fire,  and  burn  the  Body.  And  then  every  one  of  his  Friends 
takes  a  Quantity  of  the  Ashes,  and  keeps  them  instead  of 
Relics,  and  saith  that  it  is  a  holy  Thing.  And  they  have  no 
Dread  of  any  Peril  whiles  they  have  those  holy  Ashes  upon 
them.     And  they  put  his  Name  in  their  Litanies  as  a  Saint. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

Of  the  evil  Customs  used  in  the  Isle  of  Lainary.  And  how  the  Earth 
and  the  Sea  be  of  round  Form  and  Shape,  by  Proof  of  the  Star 
that  is  clept  Antarctic,  that  is  fixed  in  the  South 

FROM  that  Country  go  Men  by  the  Sea  Ocean,  and  by 
many  divers  Isles  and  by  many  Countries  that  were  too 
long  to  tell  of. 
And  a  52  Days'  Journey  from  this  Land  that  I  have  spoken 
of,  there  is  another  Land,  that  is  full  great,  that  Men  call 
Lamary.  In  that  Land  is  full  great  Heat.  And  the  Custom 
there  is  such,  that  Men  and  Women  go  all  naked.  And  they 
scorn  when  they  see  any  strange  Folk  going  clothed.  And 
they  say,  that  God  made  Adam  and  Eve  all  naked,  and  that 
no  Man  should  be  ashamed  of  what  is  after  Nature.  And 
they  say,  that  they  that  be  clothed  be  Folk  of  another  World, 
or  they  be  Folk  that  trow  not  in  God.  And  they  say,  that 
they  believe  in  God  that  formed  the  World,  and  that  made 
Adam  and  Eve  and  all  other  Things.  And  they  wed  there 
no  Wives,  for  all  the  Women  there  be  common  and  they 
deny  no  Man.  And  they  say  they  sin  if  they  refuse  any  Man  ; 
and  so  God  commanded  to  Adam  and  Eve  and  to  All  that 
come  of  Him,  when  He  said,  "  Crescite  et  multiplicamini,  et 
replete  Terram,"  ("Increase  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the 
Earth.")  And  therefore  may  no  Man  in  that  Country  say, 
"This  is  my  Wife;"  nor  no  Woman  may  say,  "This  my 
Husband."  And  when  they  have  Children,  they  may  give 
them  to  what  Man  they  will  that  hath  companied  with  them. 
And  also  all  the  Land  is  common  ;  for  all  that  a  Man  holdeth 
one  Year,  another  Man  hath  it  another  Year ;  and  every  Man 
taketh  what  Part  that  it  liketh  him.  And  also  all  the  Goods 
of  the  Land,  Corn  and  all  other  Things,  be  common  :  for 
nothing  there  is  kept  enclosed,  nor  nothing  there  is  under 
Lock,  and  every  Man  there  taketh  what  he  will  without  any 
Contradiction,  and  one  Man  there  is  as  rich  as  another. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  113 

But  in  that  Country  there  is  a  cursed  Custom,  for  they  eat 
more  gladly  Man's  Flesh  than  any  other  Flesh ;  and  yet  is 
that  Country  abundant  of  Flesh,  of  Fish,  of  Corn,  of  Gold  and 
Silver,  and  of  all  other  Goods.  Thither  go  Merchants  and 
bring  with  them  Children  to  sell  to  them  of  the  Country,  and 
they  buy  them.  And  if  they  be  fat  they  eat  them  anon. 
And  if  they  be  lean  they  feed  them  till  they  be  fat,  and  then 
they  eat  them.  And  they  say,  that  it  is  the  best  Flesh  and 
the  sweetest  of  all  the  World. 

In  that  Land,  and  in  many  other  beyond  that,  no  Man  may 
see  the  Star  Transmontane  (or  Polar  Star),  that  is  clept  the 
Star  of  the  Sea,  that  is  unmovable  and  that  is  toward  the 
North,  that  we  call  the  Lode-star.  But  Men  see  another  Star, 
the  contrary  (or  opposite)  to  it,  that  is  toward  the  South,  that 
is  clept  Antarctic.  And  right  as  the  Ship-men  here  take  their 
Advice  and  govern  them  by  the  Lode-star,  right  so  do  Ship- 
men  beyond  these  Parts  govern  them  by  the  Star  of  the  South, 
the  which  Star  appeareth  not  to  us.  And  this  Star  that  is 
toward  the  North,  that  we  call  the  Lode-star,  appeareth  not 
to  them.  For  which  Cause  Men  may  well  perceive,  that  the 
Land  and  the  Sea  be  of  round  Shape  and  Form ;  for  the  Part 
of  the  Firmament  showeth  in  one  Country  that  sheweth  not 
in  another  Country.  And  Men  may  well  prove  by  Experience 
and  subtle  Compassing  of  Wit,  that  if  a  Man  found  Passages 
by  Ships  that  would  go  to  search  the  World,  he  might  go  by 
Ship  all  about  the  World  and  above  and  beneath. 

The  which  Thing  I  prove  thus  after  what  I  have  seen.  For 
I  have  been  toward  the  Parts  of  Brabant,  and  beheld  by  the 
Astrolabe  that  the  Star  that  is  clept  the  Transmontane  is  53 
Degrees  high  ;  and  more  further  in  Germany  and  Bohemia  it 
hath  58  Degrees ;  and  more  further  toward  the  Septentrional 
(or  Northern)  Parts  it  is  62  Degrees  of  Height  and  certain 
Minutes ;  for  I  myself  have  measured  it  by  the  Astrolabe. 
Now  shall  ye  know,  that  over  against  the  Transmontane  is 
the  tother  Star  that  is  clept  Antarctic,  as  I  have  said  before. 
And  those  2  Stars  move  never,  and  on  them  turneth  all  the 
Firmament  right  as  doth  a  Wheel  that  turneth  on  his  Axle- 
tree.  So  that  those  Stars  bear  the  Firmament  in  2  equal 
Parts,  so  that  it  hath  as  much  above  as  it  hath  beneath. 
After  this,  I  have  gone  toward  the  Meridional  Parts,  that  is, 

9 


1 14  MANDEVILLE 

toward  the  South,  and  I  have  found  that  in  Lybia  Men  see 
first  the  Star  Antarctic.  And  so  the  more  further  I  have  gone 
in  those  Countries,  the  more  high  I  have  found  that  Star ;  so 
that  toward  the  High  Lybia  it  is  18  Degrees  of  Height 
and  certain  Minutes  (of  the  which  60  Minutes  make  a  Degree). 
After  going  by  Sea  and  by  Land  toward  this  Country  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  and  to  other  Isles  and  Lands  beyond  that 
Country,  I  have  found  the  Star  Antarctic  33  Degrees  of 
Height  and  some  Minutes.  And  if  I  had  had  Company  and 
Shipping  to  go  more  beyond,  I  trow  well,  as  certain,  that  we 
should  have  seen  all  the  Roundness  of  the  Firmament  all 
about.  For,  as  I  have  said  to  you  before,  the  Half  of  the  Fir- 
mament is  between  those  2  Stars,  the  which  Half-part  I  have 
seen.  And  of  the  tother  Half-part  I  have  seen,  toward  the 
North  under  the  Transmontane,  62  Degrees  and  10  Minutes, 
and  toward  the  Meridional  Part  I  have  seen  under  the  Antarc- 
tic, 33  Degrees  and  16  Minutes.  And  then,  the  Half-part  of 
the  Firmament  holdeth  in  all  but  180  Degrees.  And  of  those 
180,  I  have  seen  62  on  that  one  Part  and  33  on  that  other 
Part ;  in  all,  95  Degrees  and  nigh  the  Half-part  of  a  Degree. 
And  so,  there  faileth  not  but  that  I  have  seen  all  the  Firma- 
ment, save  84  Degrees  and  the  Half-part  of  a  Degree,  and 
that  is  not  the  4th  Part  of  the  Firmament ;  for  the  4th  Part 
of  the  Roundness  of  the  Firmament  holds  90  Degrees,  so 
there  faileth  but  5  Degrees  and  an  Half  of  the  4th  Part.  And 
so  I  have  seen  3  Parts  of  all  the  Roundness  of  the  Firma- 
ment and  more  yet  by  5  Degrees  and  a  Half. 

By  the  which  I  say  to  you  certainly  that  Men  may  environ 
all  the  Earth  of  all  the  World,  as  well  underneath  as  above, 
and  return  again  to  their  Country,  if  that  they  had  Company 
and  Shipping  and  Conduct.  And  always  they  should  find  Men, 
Lands  and  Isles,  as  well  as  in  this  Country.  For  wit  ye  well, 
that  they  that  be  toward  the  Antarctic,  be  straight,  Feet 
against  Feet,  to  them  that  dwell  under  the  Transmontane ; 
as  well  as  we  and  they  that  dwell  under  us  be  Feet  against 
Feet.  For  all  the  Parts  of  Sea  and  of  Land  have  their  Oppo- 
sites,  habitable  or  passable,  and  also  they  of  this  Half  and  the 
beyond  Half. 

And  wit  well,  that,  after  what  I  can  perceive  and  compre- 
hend, the  Lands  of  Prester  John,  Emperor  of  Ind,  be  under 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  I15 

ns.  For  in  going  from  Scotland  or  from  England  toward 
Jerusalem  Men  go  upward  always.  For  our  Land  is  in  the 
low  Part  of  the  Earth  toward  the  West,  and  the  Land  of 
Prester  John  is  in  the  low  Part  of  the  Earth  toward  the  East. 
And  they  have  there  the  Day  when  we  have  the  Night ;  and 
also,  on  the  contrary,  they  have  the  Night  when  we  have  the 
Day.  For  the  Earth  and  the  Sea  be  of  round  Form  and 
Shape,  as  I  have  said  before ;  and  as  Men  go  upward  to  one 
Side,  so  Men  go  downward  to  another  Side. 

Also  ye  have  heard  me  say  that  Jerusalem  is  in  the  Midst 
of  the  World.  And  that  may  Men  prove,  and  shew  there  by 
a  Spear,  that  is  fixed  into  the  Earth,  that  sheweth  no  Shadow 
on  any  Side  upon  the  Hour  of  Midday,  when  it  is  Equinox. 
And  that  it  should  be  in  the  Midst  of  the  World,  David  wit- 
nesseth  in  the  Psalter,  where  he  saith,  "  Deus  operatus  est 
Salutem  in  Medio  Terrae,"  ("  God  working  Salvation  in  the 
Midst  of  the  Earth.")  They,  then,  that  depart  from  the 
Parts  of  the  West  to  go  toward  Jerusalem,  as  many  Days' 
Journeys  as  they  go  upward  to  go  thither,  in  so  many  Days' 
Journeys  may  they  go  from  Jerusalem  unto  other  Confines 
of  the  Superficiality  of  the  Earth  beyond.  And  when  Men 
go  beyond  those  Journeys  toward  Ind  and  to  the  foreign 
Isles,  they  are  environing  the  Roundness  of  the  Earth  and  of 
the  Sea  under  our  Country  on  this  Half. 

And  therefore  hath  a  Thing  befallen,  as  I  have  heard  re- 
counted many  times  when  I  was  young,  how  a  worthy  Man 
departed  some-time  from  our  Countries  to  go  search  the 
World.  And  so,  he  passed  Ind  and  the  Isles  beyond  Ind, 
where  be  more  than  5000  Isles.  And  so  long  he  went  by 
Sea  and  Land,  and  so  environed  the  World  by  many  Sea- 
sons, that  he  found  an  Isle  where  he  heard  Folk  speak  his 
own  Language,  calling  on  Oxen  at  the  Plough,  such  Words 
as  Men  speak  to  Beasts  in  his  own  Country ;  whereof  he 
had  great  Marvel,  for  he  knew  not  how  it  might  be.  But 
I  say,  that  he  had  gone  so  long  by  Land  and  by  Sea,  that  he 
had  environed  all  the  Earth  ;  and  environing,  that  is  to  say, 
going  about,  he  was  come  again  unto  his  own  Borders  ;  and  if 
he  would  have  passed  further,  he  had  found  his  Country  and 
Things  well-known.  But  he  turned  again  from  thence,  from 
whence  he  was  come.     And  so  he  lost  much  painful  Labour, 


1 16  MANDEVILLE 

as  he  himself  said  a  great  while  after,  when  that  he  was  come 
Home.  For  it  befell  after,  that  he  went  unto  Norway.  And 
there  a  Tempest  of  the  Sea  took  him,  and  he  arrived  in  an 
Isle.  And,  when  he  was  in  that  Isle,  he  knew  well  that  it 
was  the  Isle  where  he  had  heard  speak  his  own  Language 
before  and  the  calling  of  the  Oxen  at  the  Plough  ;  and  that 
was  a  possible  Thing.^ 

But  now  it  seemeth  to  simple  Men  unlearned,  that  Men  may 
not  go  under  the  Earth,  and  also  that  Men  should  fall  toward 
the  Heaven  from  under.  But  that  may  not  be,  any  more 
than  we  may  fall  toward  Heaven  from  the  Earth  where  we 
be.  For  on  whatever  Part  of  the  Earth  that  Men  dwell, 
either  above  or  beneath,  it  seemeth  always  to  them,  that  they 
go  more  up-right  than  any  other  Folk.  And  right  as  it 
seemeth  to  us  that  they  be  under  us,  right  so  it  seemeth  to 
them  that  we  be  under  them.  For  if  a  Man  might  fall  from 
the  Earth  unto  the  Firmament,  by  greater  Reason  the  Earth 
and  the  Sea  that  be  so  great  and  so  heavy  should  fall  to  the 
Firmament :  but  that  may  not  be,  and  therefore  saith  our 
Lord  God,  "  Non  timeas  Me,  qui  suspendi  Terram  ex  Nihilo," 
("  Have  no  Dread  of  Me,  that  hanged  the  Earth  from 
Nought.") 

And  albeit  that  it  be  a  possible  Thing  that  Men  may  so 
environ  all  the  World,  nevertheless,  of  a  looo  Persons,  not 
one  might  happen  to  return  to  his  Country.  For,  for  the 
Greatness  of  the  Earth  and  of  the  Sea,  Men  may  go  by  a 
lOOO  and  a  lOOO  other  Ways,  so  that  no  Man  could  return 
perfectly  toward  the  Parts  that  he  came  from,  but  if  it  were 
by  Adventure  and  Hap,  or  by  the  Grace  of  God.  For  the 
Earth  is  full  large  and  full  great,  and  holds  in  Roundness  and 
Environment  about,  by  above  and  by  beneath,  20425  Miles, 
after  the  Opinion  of  the  old  wise  Astronomers ;  and  their 
Sayings  I  reprove  nought.  But,  after  my  little  Wit,  it 
seemeth  me,  saving  their  Reverence,  that  it  is  more. 

And  to  have  better  Understanding  I  say  thus.  Be  there 
imagined  a  Figure  that  hath  a  great  Compass.  And,  about 
the  Point  of  the  great  Compass  that  is  clept  the  Centre,  be 

^  This  and  similar  passages  in  Sir  John's  narrative  were  among  the  in- 
fluences which  led  Columbus  to  sail  westward  in  a  search  for  the  Eastern 
shore  of  Asia. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  11/ 

made  another  little  Compass.  Then  after,  be  the  great  Com- 
pass divided  by  Lines  in  many  Parts,  and  let  all  the  Lines 
meet  at  the  Centre.  So  that  in  as  many  Parts  as  the  great 
Compass  shall  be  parted,  in  so  many  shall  be  parted  the  little 
Compass  that  is  about  the  Centre,  albeit  that  the  Spaces  be 
less.  Now  then,  let  the  great  Compass  represent  the  Firma- 
ment, and  the  little  Compass  represent  the  Earth.  Now  then, 
the  Firmament  is  divided  by  Astronomers  into  12  Signs,  and 
every  Sign  is  divided  into  30  Degrees ;  that  is,  360  Degrees 
that  the  Firmament  hath  above.  Also,  be  the  Earth  divided 
into  as  many  Parts  as  the  Firmament,  and  let  every  Part 
answer  to  a  Degree  of  the  Firmament.  And  wit  well,  that, 
after  the  Authors  of  Astronomy,  700  Furlongs  of  the  Earth 
answer  to  a  Degree  of  the  Firmament,  and  those  be  87  Miles 
and  4  Furlongs.  Now  be  that  multiplied  by  360  Times,  and 
then  they  be  31,500  Miles  of  8  Furlongs,  after  the  Miles  of 
our  Country,  So  much  hath  the  Earth  in  Roundness  and  in 
going  round  about,  after  mine  Opinion  and  mine  Under- 
standing, 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  after  the  Opinion  of  old  wise 
Philosophers  and  Astronomers,  neither  our  Country  nor  Ire- 
land nor  Wales  nor  Scotland  nor  Norway  nor  the  other  Isles 
coasting  to  them  be  in  the  Superficiality  counted  above  the 
Earth,  as  it  sheweth  by  all  the  Books  of  Astronomy,  For 
the  Superficiality  of  the  Earth  is  parted  in  7  Parts  for  the  7 
Planets,  and  those  Parts  be  clept  Climates,  And  our  Parts 
be  not  of  the  7  Climates,  for  they  be  descending  toward  the 
West,  And  also  these  Isles  of  Ind  which  be  evenly  over 
against  us  be  not  reckoned  in  the  Climates,  For  they  be 
over  against  us  that  be  in  the  low  Country,  And  the  7 
Climates  environing  stretch  them  round  the  World. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

Of  the  Palace  of  the  King  of  the  Isle  of  Java.  Of  the  Trees  that  bear 
Meal,  Honey,  Wine,  and  Venom  ;  and  of  other  Marvels  and  Cus- 
toms used  in  the  Isles  marching  thereabout 

BESIDE  that  Isle  that  I  have  spoken  of,  there  is  another 
Isle  that  is  clept  Sumobor,  that  is  a  great  Isle.  And 
the  King  thereof  is  right  mighty.  The  Folk  of  that 
Isle  make  them  always  to  be  marked  in  the  Visage  with  an 
hot  Iron,  both  Men  and  Women,  for  great  Noblesse,  to  be 
known  from  other  Folk ;  for  they  hold  themselves  most  noble 
and  most  worthy  of  all  the  World.  And  they  have  War 
always  with  the  Folk  that  go  all  naked. 

And  fast  beside  is  another  Isle,  that  is  clept  Betemga,  that 
is  a  good  Isle  and  a  plentiful.  And  many  other  Isles  be 
thereabout,  where  there  be  many  divers  Folk,  of  the  which 
it  were  too  long  to  speak  of  all. 

But  fast  beside  that  Isle,  to  pass  by  Sea,  is  a  great  Isle 
and  a  great  Country  that  Men  call  Java.  And  it  is  nigh 
2000  Mile  in  Circuit.  And  the  King  of  that  Country  is  a 
full  great  Lord  and  a  rich  and  a  mighty,  and  hath  under  him 
7  other  Kings  of  7  other  Isles  about  him.  This  Isle  is  full 
well  inhabited,  and  full  well  manned.  There  groweth  all 
manner  of  Spicery,  more  plentifully  than  in  any  other  Coun- 
try, as  Ginger,  Cloves-gilofre,  Cinnamon,  Seedwall,  Nutmegs 
and  Maces.  And  wit  well,  that  the  Nutmeg  beareth  the 
Maces  ;  for  right  as  the  Nut  of  the  Hazel  hath  an  Husk 
without,  that  the  Nut  is  closed  in  till  it  be  ripe  and  that  after 
falleth  out,  right  so  it  is  with  the  Nutmeg  and  with  the  Maces. 
Many  other  Spices  and  many  other  Goods  grow  in  that  Isle. 
For  of  all  things  there  is  Plenty,  save  only  of  Wine.  But 
there  is  Gold  and  Silver,  great  Plenty. 

And  the  King  of  that  Country  hath  a  Palace  full  noble  and 
full  marvellous,  and  more  rich  than  any  in  the  World.  For 
all  the  Steps  to  go  up  into  the  Halls  and  Chambers  be,  one 

118 


I 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 19 

of  Gold,  another  of  Silver.  And  also,  the  Pavements  of  Halls 
and  Chambers  be  all  in  Squares,  one  of  Gold,  and  another  of 
Silver.  And  all  the  Walls  within  be  covered  with  Gold  and 
Silver  in  fine  Plates,  and  in  those  Plates  be  Stories  and  Battles 
of  Knights  inlaid,  and  the  Crowns  and  the  Circles  about  their 
Heads  be  made  of  precious  Stones  and  rich  Pearls  and  great. 
And  the  Halls  and  the  Chambers  of  the  Palace  be  all  covered 
within  with  Gold  and  Silver,  so  that  no  Man  would  believe 
the  Riches  of  that  Palace  but  he  had  seen  it.  And  wit  well, 
that  the  King  of  that  Isle  is  so  mighty,  that  he  hath  many 
times  overcome  the  great  Chan  of  Cathay  in  Battle,  that  is 
the  most  great  Emperor  that  is  under  the  Firmament  either 
beyond  the  Sea  or  on  this  Half.  For  they  have  had  often- 
time  War  between  them,  because  that  the  great  Chan  would 
constrain  him  to  hold  his  Land  of  him  ;  but  that  other  at  all 
times  defendeth  him  well  against  him. 

After  that  Isle,  in  going  by  Sea,  Men  find  another  Isle, 
good  and  great,  that  Men  call  Pathen  that  is  a  great  Kingdom 
full  of  fair  Cities  and  full  of  Towns.  In  that  Land  grow  Trees 
that  bear  Meal,  whereof  Men  make  good  Bread  and  white  and 
of  good  Savour ;  and  it  seemeth  as  it  were  of  Wheat,  but  it 
is  not  altogether  of  such  Savour,  And  there  be  other  Trees 
that  bear  Honey  good  and  sweet,  and  other  Trees  that  bear 
Venom,  against  the  which  there  is  no  Medicine  but  one :  and 
that  is  to  take  their  own  Leaves  and  stamp  them  and  temper 
them  with  Water  and  then  drink  it,  and  else  shall  a  Man  die ; 
for  Triacle  ^  will  not  avail,  nor  any  other  Medicine.  For  this 
Venom  the  Jews  had  made  one  of  their  Friends  seek  to  em- 
poison all  Christianity,  as  I  have  heard  them  say  in  their 
Confession  before  they  die  :  but  thanked  be  Almighty  God  ! 
they  failed  of  their  Purpose ;  but  always  they  make  great 
Mortality  of  People.  And  other  Trees  there  be  also  that 
bear  Wine  of  noble  Scent.  And  if  you  like  to  hear  how  the 
Meal  Cometh  out  of  the  Trees  I  shall  tell  you.  Men  hew  the 
Trees  with  an  Hatchet,  all  about  the  Foot  of  the  Tree,  till 
that  the  Bark  be  parted  in  many  Parts,  and  then  cometh  out 
thereof  a  thick  Liquor,  the  which  they  receive  in  Vessels,  and 
dry  it  at  the  Heat  of  the  Sun  ;  and  then  they  take  it  to  a 

^  A  particular  composition  in  ancient  Medicine :  French,  Theriaque,  of 
which  Triacle  is  a  corruption. 


I20  MANDEVILLE 

Mill  to  grind  and  it  becometh  fair  Meal  and  white.  And  the 
Honey  and  the  Wine  and  the  Venom  be  drawn  out  of  other 
Trees  in  the  same  Manner,  and  put  in  Vessels  to  keep. 

In  that  Isle  is  a  dead  Sea,  that  is  a  Lake  that  hath  no 
Bottom  ;  and  if  anything  fall  into  that  Lake  it  shall  never 
come  up  again.  In  that  Lake  grow  Reeds,  that  be  Canes, 
that  they  call  "Thaby,"  that  be  30  Fathoms  long;  and  of 
these  Canes  Men  make  fair  Houses.  And  there  be  other 
Canes  that  be  not  so  long,  that  grow  near  the  Land  and  have 
so  long  Roots  that  they  endure  well  a  4th  of  a  Furlong  or 
more ;  and  at  the  Knots  of  those  Roots  Men  find  precious 
Stones  that  have  great  Virtues.  And  he  that  beareth  any  of 
them  upon  him.  Iron  and  Steel  may  not  hurt  him  nor  draw 
any  Blood  from  him  ;  and  therefore,  they  that  have  those 
Stones  upon  them  fight  full  hardily  both  on  Sea  and  Land, 
for  Men  may  not  harm  them  in  any  Part.  And  therefore, 
they  that  know  the  Manner,  and  shall  fight  with  them,  they 
shoot  at  them  Arrows  and  Crossbow  Bolts  without  Iron  or 
Steel,  and  so  they  hurt  them  and  slay  them.  And  also  of 
those  Canes  they  make  Houses  and  Ships  and  other  Things, 
as  we  do  here,  making  Houses  and  Ships  of  Oak  or  of  any 
other  Trees.  And  deem  no  Man  that  I  say  it  for  Trifling, 
for  I  have  seen  the  Canes  with  mine  own  Eyes,  full 
many  times,  lying  upon  the  River  of  that  Lake,  of  the 
which  20  of  our  Fellows  might  not  lift  up  nor  bear  one  to 
the  Earth. 

After  this  Isle  Men  go  by  Sea  to  another  Isle  that  is  clept 
Calonak.  And  it  is  a  fair  Land  and  plentiful  of  Goods.  And 
the  King  of  that  Country  hath  as  many  Wives  as  he  will. 
For  he  maketh  Search  all  the  Country  to  get  him  the  fairest 
Maidens  that  may  be  found,  and  maketh  them  to  be  brought 
before  him.  And  he  taketh  one  one  Night,  and  another 
another  Night,  and  so  forth  continually  following ;  so  that  he 
hath  a  1000  Wives  or  more.  And  he  lieth  never  but  one 
Night  with  one  of  them,  and  another  Night  with  another ; 
unless  that  one  happen  to  be  more  lusty  to  his  Pleasure  than 
another.  And  therefore  the  King  getteth  full  many  Children, 
some-time  an  100,  some-time  a  200,  and  some-time  more. 
And  he  hath  also  up  to  14,000  Elephants  or  more  that  he 
maketh  to  be  brought  up  amongst  his  Villains  (or  Serfs)  in 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  121 

all  his  Towns.  For  in  Case  that  he  had  any  War  against 
any  other  King  about  him,  then  he  maketh  certain  Men  of 
Arms  to  go  up  into  the  Castles  of  Tree  made  for  the  War, 
that  craftily  be  set  upon  the  Elephants'  Backs,  to  fight 
against  their  Enemies.  And  so  do  other  Kings  there-about. 
For  the  Manner  of  War  is  not  there  as  it  is  here  or  in  other 
Countries,  nor  the  Ordinance  of  War  neither.  And  Men 
call  the  Elephants  *'  Warkes." 

And  in  that  Isle  there  is  a  great  Marvel,  more  to  speak  of 
than  in  any  other  Part  of  the  World.  For  all  Manner  of 
Fishes,  that  be  there  in  the  Sea  about  them,  come  once  in 
the  Year  —  each  Manner  of  diverse  Fishes,  one  Manner  of 
Kind  after  another.  And  they  cast  themselves  on  to  the  Sea 
Bank  of  that  Isle  in  so  great  Plenty  and  Multitude,  that  a 
Man  can  scarcely  see  ought  but  Fish.  And  there  they  abide 
3  Days.  And  every  Man  of  the  Country  taketh  of  them  as 
many  as  he  liketh.  And  after,  that  Manner  of  Fish  after  the 
3rd  Day  departeth  and  goeth  into  the  Sea.  And  after  them 
come  another  Multitude  of  Fish  of  another  Kind  and  do  in 
the  same  Manner  as  the  first  did,  another  3  Days.  And 
after  them  another,  till  all  the  diverse  Manner  of  Fishes  have 
been  there,  and  that  Men  have  taken  of  them  what  they  like. 
And  no  Man  knoweth  the  Cause  wherefore  it  may  be.  But 
they  of  the  Country  say  that  it  is  to  do  Reverence  to  their 
King,  that  is  the  most  worthy  King  that  is  in  the  World  as 
they  say ;  because  that  he  fulfilleth  the  Commandment  that 
God  bade  to  Adam  and  Eve,  when  God  said,  "  Crescite  et 
multiplicamini  et  replete  Terram  "  ("  Increase  and  multiply, 
and  replenish  the  Earth  ").  And  because  he  multiplies  the 
World  so  with  Children,  therefore  God  sendeth  him  so  the 
Fishes  of  diverse  Kinds  of  all  that  be  in  the  Sea,  to  take  at 
his  Will  for  him  and  all  his  People.  And  therefore  all  the 
Fishes  of  the  Sea  come  to  make  him  Homage  as  the  most 
noble  and  excellent  King  of  the  World,  and  that  is  best  be- 
loved of  God,  as  they  say.  I  know  not  the  Reason,  why  it  is, 
but  God  knoweth  ;  but  this,  me-seemeth,  is  the  most  great 
Marvel  that  ever  I  saw.  For  this  Marvel  is  against  Nature 
and  not  with  Nature,  that  the  Fishes  that  have  Freedom  to 
environ  all  the  Coasts  of  the  Sea  at  their  own  List,  come  of 
their  own  Will  to  proffer  themselves  to  the  Death,  without 


122  MANDEVILLE 

Constraining  of  Man.  And  therefore  I  am  sure  that  this 
may  not  be,  unless  it  be  a  great  Token, 

There  be  also  in  that  Country  a  Kind  of  Snails  that  be  so 
great,  that  many  Persons  may  lodge  them  in  their  Shells  as 
Men  would  do  in  a  little  House.  And  other  Snails  there  be 
that  be  full  great  but  not  so  huge  as  the  other.  And  of  these 
Snails,  and  of  great  white  Worms  that  have  black  Heads 
that  be  as  great  as  a  Man's  Thigh,  and  of  some  less  great  Worms 
that  Men  find  there  in  Woods,  Men  make  Royal  Viaunds 
for  the  King  and  for  other  great  Lords.  And  if  a  Man  that 
is  married  die  in  that  Country,  Men  bury  his  Wife  with  him 
all  alive  ;  for  Men  say  there,  that  it  is  reasonable  that  she 
make  him  Company  in  that  other  World  as  she  did  in  this. 

From  that  Country  Men  go  by  the  Sea  Ocean  by  an  Isle 
that  is  clept  Caffolos.  Men  of  that  Country  when  their 
Friends  be  sick  hang  them  upon  Trees,  and  say  that  it  is 
better  that  Birds,  that  be  Angels  of  God,  eat  them,  than  the 
foul  Worms  of  the  Earth. 

From  that  Isle  Men  go  to  another  Isle,  where  the  Folk  be 
of  full  cursed  Nature.  For  they  nourish  great  Dogs  and  teach 
them  to  strangle  their  Friends  when  they  be  sick.  For  they 
will  not  that  they  die  of  a  natural  Death.  For  they  say,  that 
they  should  suffer  too  great  Pain  if  they  wait  to  die  by  them- 
selves, as  Nature  would.  And,  when  they  be  thus  strangled, 
they  eat  their  Flesh  instead  of  Venison. 

Afterward  Men  go  by  many  Isles  by  Sea  unto  an  Isle  that 
Men  call  Milke,  And  there  is  a  full  cursed  People.  For 
they  delight  in  nothing  more  than  to  fight  and  to  slay  Men. 
And  they  drink  gladliest  Man's  Blood,  the  which  they  call 
"Dieu."  And  the  more  Men  that  a  Man  may  slay,  the  more 
Worship  he  hath  amongst  them.  And  if  2  Persons  be  at  De- 
bate and,  peradventure,  make  Accord  with  their  Friends  or 
with  some  of  their  Alliance,  it  behoveth  that  every  one  of 
them,  that  shall  be  of  Accord,  shall  drink  of  the  other's  Blood  : 
and  else  neither  the  Accord  nor  the  Alliance  is  worth  ought ; 
neither  shall  there  be  any  Blame  to  him  that  breaks  the  Alli- 
ance and  the  Accord,  unless  every  one  of  them  drink  of  the 
others'  Blood. 

And  from  that  Isle  Men  go  by  Sea,  from  Isle  to  Isle,  unto 
an  Isle  that  is  clept  Tracoda,  where  the  Folk  of  that  Country 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 23 

be  as  Beasts,  and  unreasonable,  and  dwell  in  Caves  that  they 
make  in  the  Earth ;  for  they  have  no  Wit  to  make  them 
Houses.  And  when  they  see  any  Man  passing  through  their 
Countries  they  hide  them  in  their  Caves.  And  they  eat 
Flesh  of  Serpents,  and  they  eat  but  little.  And  they  speak 
Nought,  but  they  hiss  as  Serpents  do.  And  they  set  no  Price 
on  any  Riches,  but  only  on  a  precious  Stone,  that  is  amongst 
them,  that  is  of  60  Colours.  And  from  the  Name  of  the  Isle, 
they  call  it  Tracodon.  And  they  love  more  that  Stone  than 
anything  else ;  and  yet  they  know  not  the  Virtue  thereof, 
but  they  covet  it  and  love  it  only  for  the  Beauty. 

After  that  Isle  Men  go  by  the  Sea  Ocean,  by  many  Isles, 
unto  an  Isle  that  is  clept  Nacumera,  that  is  a  great  Isle  and 
good  and  fair.  And  it  is  in  Compass  about,  more  than  a  1000 
Mile.  And  all  the  Men  and  Women  of  that  Isle  have  Hounds' 
Heads,  and  they  be  clept  Cunocephali.  And  they  be  full 
reasonable  and  of  good  Understanding,  save  that  they  wor- 
ship an  Ox  for  their  God.  And  also  every  one  of  them  bear- 
eth  an  Ox  of  Gold  or  of  Silver  in  his  Forehead,  in  Token  that 
they  love  well  their  God.  And  they  go  all  naked  save  a  little 
Clout,  that  they  cover  them  with  to  their  Knees.  They  be 
great  Folk  and  well-fighting.  And  they  have  a  great  Targe 
that  covereth  all  the  Body,  and  a  Spear  in  their  Hand  to  fight 
with.    And  if  they  take  any  Man  in  Battle,  anon  they  eat  him. 

The  King  of  that  Isle  is  full  rich  and  full  mighty  and  right 
devout  after  his  Law.  And  he  hath  about  his  Neck  300  orient 
Pearls,  good  and  great  and  knotted,  as  Pater-nosters  here  of 
Amber.  And  in  manner  as  we  say  our  Pater  Noster  and  our 
Ave  Maria,  counting  the  Pater  Nosters,  right  so  this  King 
saith  every  Day  devoutly  300  Prayers  to  his  God,  ere  that  he 
eat.  And  he  beareth  also  about  his  Neck  an  orient  Ruby, 
noble  and  fine,  that  is  a  Foot  of  Length  and  5  Fingers  large. 
And,  when  they  choose  their  King,  they  take  him  that  Ruby 
to  bear  in  his  Hand ;  and  so  they  lead  him,  riding  all  about 
the  City.  And  from  thence-forward  they  be  all  obeissant  to 
him.  And  that  Ruby  he  shall  bear  always  about  his  Neck, 
for  if  he  had  not  that  Ruby  upon  him  Men  would  not  hold 
him  for  King.  The  great  Chan  of  Cathay  hath  greatly 
coveted  that  Ruby,  but  he  might  never  have  it  for  War,  nor 
for  any  manner  of  Goods.     This  King  is  so  rightful  and  of 


124  MANDEVILLE 

such  Equity  in  his  Judgments,  that  Men  may  go  securely 
throughout  all  his  Country  and  bear  with  them  what  they 
list  ;  so  that  no  Man  shall  be  so  hardy  as  to  rob  them,  and  if 
he  were,  the  King  would  judge  him  anon. 

From  this  Land  Men  go  to  another  Isle  that  is  clept  Silha 
(Ceylon),  And  it  is  well  an  800  Mile  about.  In  that  Land 
is  full  much  Waste,  for  it  is  full  of  Serpents,  of  Dragons  and 
of  Cockodrills,  so  that  no  Man  dare  dwell  there.  These 
Cockodrills  be  Serpents,  yellow  and  rayed  above,  and  have 
4  Feet  and  short  Thighs,  and  great  Nails  like  Claws  or 
Talons.  And  there  be  some  that  have  5  Fathoms  of  Length, 
and  some  of  6  and  of  8  and  of  10,  And  when  they  go  by 
Places  that  be  gravelly,  it  seemeth  as  though  Men  had  drawn 
a  great  Tree  through  the  gravelly  Place,  And  there  be  also 
many  wild  Beasts,  and  especially  Elephants. 

In  that  Isle  is  a  great  Mountain,  And  in  mid  Place  of  the 
Mount  is  a  great  Lake  in  a  full  fair  Plain  ;  and  there  is  great 
Plenty  of  Water.  And  they  of  the  Country  say,  that  Adam 
and  Eve  wept  upon  that  Mount  an  100  Year,  when  they 
were  driven  out  of  Paradise,  and  that  Water,  they  say,  is  of 
their  Tears  ;  for  so  much  Water  they  wept,  that  they  made 
the  aforesaid  Lake.  And  in  the  Bottom  of  that  Lake  Men 
find  many  precious  Stones  and  great  Pearls,  In  that  Lake 
grow  many  Reeds  and  great  Canes  ;  and  there  within  be 
many  Cockodrills  and  Serpents  and  great  Water-leeches. 
And  the  King  of  that  Country,  once  every  Year,  giveth 
Leave  to  poor  Men  to  go  into  the  Lake  to  gather  them  pre- 
cious Stones  and  Pearls,  by  way  of  Alms,  for  the  Love  of 
God  that  made  Adam.  And  every  Year  Men  find  enough. 
And  because  of  the  Vermin  that  is  within,  they  anoint  their 
Arms  and  their  Thighs  and  Legs  with  an  Ointment  made  of 
a  Thing  that  is  clept  Limes,  that  is  a  manner  of  Fruit  like 
small  Pease  ;  and  then  have  they  no  Dread  of  Cockodrills,  or  of 
any  other  venomous  Vermin.  This  Water  runneth,  flowing 
and  ebbing,  by  a  Side  of  the  Mountain,  and  in  that  River 
Men  find  precious  Stones  and  Pearls,  great  Plenty.  And 
Men  of  that  Isle  say  commonly,  that  the  Serpents  and  the 
wild  Beasts  of  that  Country  will  do  no  Harm  nor  touch  with 
Evil  any  strange  Man  that  entereth  into  that  Country,  but 
only  Men  that  be  born  of  the  same  Country. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  I25 

In  that  Country  and  others  thereabout  there  be  Wild  Geese 
that  have  2  Heads.  And  there  be  Lions,  all  white  and  as 
great  as  Oxen,  and  many  other  diverse  Beasts  and  Fowls 
also  that  be  not  seen  amongst  us. 

And  wit  well,  that  in  that  Country  and  in  other  Isles 
thereabout,  the  Sea  is  so  high,  that  it  seemeth  as  though  it 
hangs  on  the  Clouds,  and  that  it  would  cover  all  the  World. 
And  that  is  a  great  Marvel  that  it  might  be  so,  save  only 
that  by  the  Will  of  God,  the  Air  sustaineth  it.  And  there- 
fore saith  David  in  the  Psalter,  "  Mirabiles  Elationes  Maris  " 
("The  wonderful  Upliftings  of  the  Sea"). 


CHAPTER   XIX 

How  Men  knoiv  by  the  Idol,  if  the  Sick  shall  die  or  not.  Of  Folk 
of  diverse  Shape  and  marvellously  disfigured.  And  of  the  Monks 
that  give  their  Leavings  to  Baboons,  Apes  and  Marmosets,  and 
to  other  Beasts 

FROM  that  Isle,  in  going  by  the  Sea  toward  the  South, 
is  another  great  Isle  that  is  clept  Dondun.  In  that  Isle 
be  Folk  of  diverse  Kinds,  so  that  the  Father  eateth  the 
Son,  the  Son  the  Father,  the  Husband  the  Wife,  and  the 
Wife  the  Husband.  And  if  it  so  befall,  that  the  Father  or 
Mother  or  any  of  their  Friends  be  sick,  anon  the  Son  goeth 
to  the  Priest  of  their  Law  and  prayeth  him  to  ask  the  Idol 
if  his  Father  or  Mother  or  Friend  shall  die  of  that  Evil  or 
not.  And  then  the  Priest  and  the  Son  go  together  before 
the  Idol  and  kneel  full  devoutly  and  ask  of  the  Idol  their 
Demand.  And  if  the  Devil  that  is  within  answer  that  he 
shall  live,  they  keep  him  well ;  and  if  he  say  that  he  shall  die, 
then  the  Priest  goeth  with  the  Son,  with  the  Wife  of  him  that 
is  sick,  and  they  put  their  Hands  upon  his  Mouth  and  stop  his 
Breath,  and  so  they  slay  him.  And  after  that,  they  chop  all 
the  Body  in  small  Pieces,  and  pray  all  his  Friends  to  come 
and  eat  of  him  that  is  dead.  And  they  send  for  all  the  Min- 
strels of  the  Country  and  make  a  solemn  Feast.  And  when 
they  have  eaten  the  Flesh,  they  take  the  Bones  and  bury  them, 
and  make  great  Melody.  And  all  those  that  be  of  his  Kin  or 
pretend  themselves  to  be  his  Friends,  and  who  come  not  to 
that  Feast,  they  be  reproved  for  ever  and  ashamed,  and  make 
great  Dole,  for  never  after  shall  they  be  holden  as  Friends. 
And  they  say  also,  that  Men  eat  their  Flesh  to  deliver  them 
out  of  Pain  ;  for  if  the  Worms  of  the  Earth  eat  them  the  Soul 
should  suffer  great  Pain,  as  they  say.  And  especially  when 
the  Flesh  is  tender  and  meagre,  then  say  their  Friends,  that 
they  do  great  Sin  to  let  them  have  so  long  Languor  to  suffer 
so  much  Pain  without  Reason.    And  when  they  find  the  Flesh 

126 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  12/ 

fat,  then  they  say,  that  it  is  well  done  to  send  him  soon  to 
Paradise,  and  that  they  have  not  suffered  him  too  long  to 
endure  in  Pain. 

The  King  of  this  Isle  is  a  full  great  Lord  and  a  mighty, 
and  hath  under  him  54  great  Isles  that  give  Tribute  to  him. 
And  in  every  one  of  these  Isles  is  a  King  crowned ;  and  all 
be  obeissant  to  that  King.  And  he  hath  in  those  Isles  many 
divers  Folk. 

In  one  of  these  Isles  be  Folk  of  great  Stature,  as  Giants. 
And  they  be  hideous  to  look  upon.  And  they  have  but  one 
Eye,  and  that  is  in  the  Middle  of  the  Forehead.  And  they 
eat  nothing  but  raw  Flesh  and  raw  Fish. 

And  in  another  Isle  toward  the  South  dwell  Folk  of  foul 
Stature  and  of  cursed  Nature  that  have  no  Heads.  And  their 
Eyes  be  in  their  Shoulders,  and  their  Mouths  be  round  shapen, 
like  an  Horse-shoe,  amidst  their  Breasts. 

And  in  another  Isle  be  Men  without  Heads,  and  their  Eyes 
and  their  Mouths  be  behind  in  their  Shoulders. 

And  in  another  Isle  be  Folk  that  have  the  Face  all  flat,  all 
plain,  without  Nose  and  without  Mouth.  But  they  have  2 
small  Holes,  all  round,  instead  of  their  Eyes,  and  their  Mouth 
is  flat  also  without  Lips. 

And  in  another  Isle  be  Folk  of  foul  Fashion  and  Shape  that 
have  the  Lip  above  the  Mouth  so  great,  that  when  they  sleep 
in  the  Sun  they  cover  all  the  Face  with  that  Lip. 

And  in  another  Isle  there  be  Little  Folk,  as  Dwarfs. 
And  they  be  so  small  as  the  Pigmies.  And  they  have  no 
Mouth  ;  but  instead  of  their  Mouth  they  have  a  little  round 
Hole,  and  when  they  shall  eat  or  drink,  they  take  through  a 
Pipe  or  Pen  or  such  a  Thing,  and  suck  it  in,  for  they  have  no 
Tongue  ;  and  therefore  they  speak  not,  but  they  make  a  man- 
ner of  Hissing  as  an  Adder  doth,  and  they  make  Signs  to  one 
another  as  Monks  do,  by  the  which  every  one  of  them  under- 
standeth  the  other. 

And  in  another  Isle  be  Folk  that  have  great  Ears  and  long 
that  hang  down  to  their  Knees. 

And  in  another  Isle  be  Folk  that  have  Horses*  Feet.  And 
they  be  strong  and  mighty,  and  swift  Runners  ;  for  they  take 
wild  Beasts  with  Running,  and  eat  them. 

And  in  another  Isle  be  Folk  that  go  upon  their  Hands  and 


128  MANDEVILLE 

their  Feet  as  Beasts.  And  they  be  all  skinned  and  feathered, 
and  they  would  leap  as  lightly  into  Trees,  and  from  Tree  to 
Tree,  as  it  were  Squirrels  or  Apes. 

And  in  another  Isle  be  Folk  that  be  both  Man  and  Woman, 
and  they  have  the  Nature  of  the  one  and  of  the  other.  And 
they  have  but  one  Pap  on  the  one  Side,  and  on  the  other 
none.  And  they  be  both  Men  and  Women  when  they  list, 
at  one  Time  the  one,  and  another  Time  the  other.  And 
they  beget  Children,  when  they  be  Men ;  and  they  bear 
Children,  when  they  be  Women. 

And  in  another  Isle  be  Folk  that  go  always  upon  their 
Knees  full  marvellously.  And  at  every  Pace  that  they  go, 
it  seemeth  that  they  would  fall.  And  they  have  in  every 
Foot  8  Toes. 

Many  other  diverse  Folk  of  diverse  Natures  be  there  in 
other  Isles  about,  of  the  which  it  were  too  long  to  tell,  and 
therefore  I  pass  over  shortly. 

From  these  Isles,  in  passing  by  the  Sea  Ocean  toward  the 
East  by  many  Days'  Journeys,  Men  find  a  great  Country  and 
a  great  Kingdom  that  Men  call  Mancy.  And  that  is  in  Ind 
the  More.  And  it  is  the  best  Land  and  one  of  the  fairest 
that  may  be  in  all  the  World,  and  the  most  delectable  and 
the  most  plentiful  of  all  Goods  that  is  in  the  Power  of  Man. 
In  that  Land  dwell  many  Christian  Men  and  Saracens,  for  it 
is  a  good  Country  and  a  great.  And  there  be  therein  more 
than  2000  great  Cities  and  rich,  besides  other  great  Towns. 
And  there  is  more  Plenty  of  People  there  than  in  any  other 
Part  of  Ind,  for  the  Bountifulness  of  the  Country.  In  that 
Country  is  no  needy  Man,  nor  any  one  that  goeth  a-begging. 
And  they  be  full  fair  Folk,  but  they  be  all  pale.  And  the 
Men  have  thin  Beards  and  few  Hairs,  but  they  be  long ;  but 
scarcely  hath  any  Man  passing  50  Hairs  in  his  Beard,  and 
one  Hair  sits  here,  another  there,  as  the  Beard  of  a  Leopard 
or  of  a  Cat.  In  that  Land  be  many  fairer  Women  than  in 
any  other  Country  beyond  the  Sea,  and  therefore  Men  call 
that  Land  Albany,  because  that  the  Folk  be  white. 

And  the  chief  City  of  that  Country  is  clept  Latorin,  and  it 
is  a  Day's  Journey  from  the  Sea,  and  it  is  much  greater 
than  Paris.  In  that  City  is  a  great  River  bearing  Ships  that 
go  to  all  the  Coasts  in  the  Sea.     No  City  of  the  World  is  so 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 29 

well  stored  of  Ships  as  is  that.  And  all  those  of  the  City  and 
of  the  Country  worship  Idols.  In  that  Country  be  double 
times  more  Birds  than  be  here.  There  be  white  Geese,  red 
about  the  Neck,  and  they  have  a  great  Crest  as  a  Cock's 
Comb  upon  their  Heads  ;  and  they  be  much  more  great  there 
than  they  be  here,  and  Men  buy  them  there  all  alive,  right 
greatly  cheap.  And  there  is  Plenty  of  Adders  of  whom  Men 
make  great  Feasts  and  eat  them  at  great  Solemnities ;  and 
he  that  maketh  there  a  Feast,  be  it  never  so  costly,  if  he  have 
no  Adders  he  hath  no  Thank  for  his  Travail. 

Many  good  Cities  there  be  in  that  Country  and  Men  have 
great  Plenty  and  great  Cheapness  of  all  Wines  and  Victuals.  In 
that  Country  be  many  Churches  of  religious  Men,  and  of  their 
Law.  And  in  those  Churches  be  Idols  as  great  as  Giants ;  and 
to  these  Idols  they  give  to  eat  at  great  Festival  Days  in  this 
Manner.  They  bring  before  them  Meats  all  sodden,  as  hot 
as  they  come  from  the  Fire,  and  they  let  the  Smoke  go  up 
towards  the  Idols ;  and  then  they  say  that  the  Idols  have 
eaten ;  and  then  the  religious  Men  eat  the  Meat  afterwards. 

In  that  Country  be  white  Hens  without  Feathers,  but  they 
bear  white  Wool  as  Sheep  do  here.  In  that  Country  Women 
that  be  unmarried,  they  have  Tokens  on  their  Heads  like 
Garlands  to  be  known  for  unmarried.  Also  in  that  Country 
there  be  Beasts  taught  of  Men  to  go  into  Waters,  into  Rivers 
and  into  deep  Tanks  to  take  Fish ;  the  which  Beast  is  but 
little,  and  Men  call  them  Loirs.  And  when  Men  cast  them 
into  the  Water,  anon  they  bring  up  great  Fishes,  as  many  as 
Men  would.  And  if  Men  will  have  more,  they  cast  them  in 
again,  and  they  bring  up  as  many  as  Men  list  to  have. 

And  from  that  City  passing  by  many  Days*  Journeys  is 
another  City,  one  of  the  greatest  in  the  World,  that  Men  call 
Cassay,^  that  is  to  say,  the  "City  of  Heaven."  That  City 
is  well  a  50  Mile  about,  and  it  is  strongly  inhabited  with 
People,  insomuch  that  in  one  House  Men  make  10  House- 
holds. In  that  City  be  12  principal  Gates  ;  and  before  every 
Gate,  a  3  Mile  or  a  4  Mile  in  Length  therefrom,  is  a  great 
Town  or  a  great  City.  That  City  sits  upon  a  great  Lake  on 
the  Sea,  as  doth  Venice.     And  in  that  City  be  more  than 

^  Called  by  Marco  Polo,  "  Kinsai,"  the  capital  of  Southern  China  under 
the  Song  Dynasty. 


I30  MANDEVILLE 

12,000  Bridges,  And  upon  every  Bridge  be  strong  Towers 
and  good,  in  the  which  dwell  the  Wardens  to  keep  the  City 
from  the  great  Chan,  And  on  the  one  Side  of  the  City  run- 
neth a  great  River  all  along  the  City,  And  there  dwell 
Christian  Men  and  many  Merchants  and  other  Folk  of  divers 
Nations,  because  that  the  Land  is  so  good  and  so  plentiful. 
And  there  groweth  full  good  Wine  that  Men  call  "  Bigon," 
that  is  full  mighty,  and  gentle  in  drinking.  This  is  a  Royal 
City  where  the  King  of  Mancy  was  wont  to  dwell.  And  there 
dwell  many  religious  Men,  as  it  were  of  the  Order  of  Friars, 
for  they  be  Mendicants. 

From  that  City  Men  go  by  Water,  solacing  and  disporting 
them,  till  they  come  to  an  Abbey  of  Monks  that  is  fast  by, 
that  be  good  religious  Men  after  their  Faith  and  Law.  In  that 
Abbey  is  a  great  Garden  and  a  fair,  where  be  many  Trees 
of  diverse  Manner  of  Fruits.  And  in  this  Garden  is  a  little 
Hill  full  of  delectable  Trees.  In  that  Hill  and  in  that  Gar- 
den be  many  diverse  Beasts,  as  Apes,  Marmosets,  Baboons 
and  many  other  diverse  Beasts.  And  every  Day,  when  the 
Convent  of  this  Abbey  hath  eaten,  the  Almoner  makes  bear 
the  Leavings  to  the  Garden,  and  he  smiteth  on  the  Garden 
Gate  with  a  Clicket  of  Silver  that  he  holdeth  in  his  Hand  ; 
and  anon  all  the  Beasts  of  the  Hill  and  of  diverse  Places  of 
the  Garden  come  out  a  3000,  or  a  4000 ;  and  they  come  in 
Guise  of  poor  Men,  and  Men  give  them  the  Leavings  in  fair 
Vessels  of  Silver,  cleanly  over-gilt.  And  when  they  have 
eaten,  the  Monk  smiteth  eftsoons  on  the  Garden  Gate  with 
the  Clicket,  and  then  anon  all  the  Beasts  return  again  to  their 
Places  that  they  come  from.  And  they  say  that  these  Beasts 
be  Souls  of  worthy  Men  that  resemble  in  Likeness  the 
Beasts  that  be  fair,  and  therefore  they  give  them  Meat  for 
the  Love  of  God ;  and  the  other  Beasts  that  be  foul,  they  say 
be  Souls  of  poor  Men  and  of  rude  Common-folk.  And  thus 
they  believe,  and  no  Man  may  put  them  out  of  this  Opinion, 
These  Beasts  above-said  they  take  when  they  be  young,  and 
nourish  them  so  with  Alms,  as  many  as  they  may  find.  And 
I  asked  them  if  it  had  not  been  better  to  have  given  those 
Leavings  to  poor  Men,  rather  than  to  the  Beasts.  And  they 
answered  me  and  said,  that  they  had  no  poor  Men  amongst 
them  in  that  Country ;  and  though  it  had  been  so  that  poor 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  131 

Men  had  been  among  them,  yet  were  it  greater  Alms  to  give 
it  to  those  Souls  that  do  there  their  Penance.  Many  other 
Marvels  be  in  that  City  and  in  the  Country  thereabout,  that 
were  too  long  to  tell  you. 

From  that  City  go  Men  by  the  Country  a  6  Days'  Journey 
to  another  City  that  Men  call  Chilenfo,  of  the  which  City  the 
Walls  be  20  Mile  about.  In  that  City  be  60  Bridges  of  Stone, 
so  fair  that  no  Man  may  see  fairer.  In  that  City  was  the  first 
Siege  of  the  King  of  Mancy,  for  it  is  a  fair  City  and  plentiful 
of  all  Goods. 

After,  pass  Men  overthwart  a  great  River  that  Men  call 
Dalay.  And  that  is  the  greatest  River  of  fresh  Water  that  is 
in  the  World.  For  there,  where  it  is  most  narrow,  it  is  more 
than  4  Mile  of  Breadth.  And  then  enter  Men  again  into  the 
Land  of  the  great  Chan. 

That  River  goeth  through  the  Land  of  Pigmies,  where  that 
the  Folk  be  of  little  Stature,  and  be  but  3  Span  long,  and 
they  be  right  fair  and  gentle,  after  their  Size,  both  the  Men 
and  the  Women.  And  they  marry  them  when  they  be  half  a 
Year  of  Age  and  get  Children.  And  they  live  not  but  6 
Year  or  7  at  the  most  ;  and  he  that  liveth  8  Year,  Men  hold 
him  there  right  passing  old.  These  Men  be  Workers  of 
Gold,  Silver,  Cotton,  Silk  and  of  all  such  Things,  the  best 
of  any  other  that  be  in  the  World.  And  they  have  often- 
times War  with  the  Birds  of  that  Country  that  they  take  and 
eat.  This  Little  Folk  neither  labour  in  Lands  nor  in  Vines  ; 
but  they  have  great  Men  amongst  them  of  our  Stature  that 
till  the  Land  and  labour  amongst  the  Vines  for  them.  And 
of  those  Men  of  our  Stature  have  they  as  great  Scorn  and 
Wonder  as  we  would  have  among  us  of  Giants  if  they  were 
amongst  us.  There  is  a  good  City,  amongst  others,  where 
there  is  dwelling  great  Plenty  of  those  Little  Folk,  and  it  is 
a  great  City  and  a  fair.  And  there  be  great  Men  that  dwell 
amongst  them,  but  when  they  get  any  Children  they  be  as 
little  as  the  Pigmies.  And  therefore  they  be,  all  for  the 
most  part,  all  Pigmies ;  for  the  Nature  of  the  Land  is  such. 
The  great  Chan  makes  keep  this  City  full  well,  for  it  is  his. 
And  albeit  that  the  Pigmies  be  little,  yet  they  be  full  reason- 
able according  to  their  Age,  and  know  enough  both  of  Good 
and  of  Evil. 


132  MANDEVILLE 

From  that  City  go  Men  by  the  Country  by  many  Cities 
and  many  Towns  unto  a  City  that  Men  call  Jamchay  ;  and 
it  is  a  noble  City  and  a  rich  and  of  great  Profit  to  the  Lord 
thereof,  and  thither  go  Men  to  seek  Merchandise  of  all  man- 
ner of  Thing.  That  City  is  full  much  worth  yearly  to  the 
Lord  of  the  Country.  For  he  hath  every  Year  as  Rent  of 
that  City,  as  they  of  the  City  say,  50,000  Cumants  of  Florins 
of  Gold  :  for  they  count  there  all  by  Cumants,  and  every 
Cumant  is  10,000  Florins  of  Gold.  Now  Men  may  well 
reckon  how  much  that  it  amounteth  to.  The  King  of  that 
Country  is  full  mighty,  and  yet  he  is  under  the  great  Chan. 
And  the  great  Chan  hath  under  him  12  such  Provinces.  In 
that  Country  in  the  good  Towns  is  a  good  Custom  :  for  there 
be  certain  Inns  in  every  good  Town,  and  whoso  will  make  a 
Feast  to  any  of  his  Friends,  he  that  will  make  the  Feast  will 
say  to  the  Hosteler  (or  Innkeeper),  "  Array  for  me  to-morrow 
a  good  Dinner  for  so  many  Folk,"  and  telleth  him  the  Num- 
ber, and  deviseth  him  the  Viands  ;  and  he  saith  also,  "Thus 
much  will  I  spend  and  no  more,"  And  anon  the  Hosteler 
arrayeth  for  him  so  fair  and  so  well  and  so  honestly,  that 
there  shall  lack  nothing ;  and  it  shall  be  done  sooner  and 
with  less  Cost  than  if  Man  made  it  in  his  own  House. 

And  a  5  Mile  from  that  City,  toward  the  Head  of  the  River 
of  Dalay,  is  another  City  that  Men  call  Menke.  In  that  City 
is  a  strong  Navy  of  Ships.  And  all  be  as  white  as  Snow  like 
the  Trees  that  they  be  made  of.  And  they  be  full  great 
Ships  and  fair,  and  well-ordained,  and  made  with  Halls  and 
Chambers  and  other  Easements,  as  though  it  were  on  the 
Land. 

From  thence  go  Men,  by  many  Towns  and  many  Cities, 
through  the  Country,  unto  a  City  that  Men  call  Lanterine. 
And  it  is  an  8  Days'  Journey  from  the  City  above-said.  This 
City  sits  upon  a  fair  River,  great  and  broad,  that  Men  call 
Caramaron.  This  River  passeth  throughout  Cathay.  And 
it  doth  often-time  Harm,  and  that  full  great,  when  it  is  over 
great. 


CHAPTER   XX 

Of  the  great  Chan  of  Cathay.  Of  the  Royalty  of  his  Palace,  and 
how  he  sits  at  Meat;  and  of  the  great  Number  of  Officers  that 
senie  him 

CATHAY  is  a  great  Country  and  a  fair,  noble  and  rich, 
and  full  of  Merchants.  Thither  go  Merchants  every 
Year  to  seek  Spices  and  all  manner  of  Merchandises, 
more  commonly  than  in  any  other  Part.  And  ye  shall  under- 
stand, that  Merchants  that  come  from  Genoa  or  from  Venice 
or  from  Romania  or  other  Parts  of  Lombardy,  they  go  by 
Sea  and  by  Land  ii  Months  or  12,  or  more  some-time,  ere 
they  may  come  to  the  Isle  of  Cathay  that  is  the  principal 
Region  of  all  Parts  beyond  ;  and  it  is  of  the  great  Chan. 

From  Cathay  go  Men  toward  the  East  by  many  Days' 
Journeys.  And  then  Men  find  a  good  City  between  these 
others,  that  Men  call  Sugarmago.  That  City  is  one  of  the 
best  stored  of  Silk  and  other  Merchandises  that  is  in  the 
World. 

After  go  Men  to  yet  another  old  City  toward  the  East.  And 
it  is  in  the  Province  of  Cathay.  And  beside  that  City  the  Men 
of  Tartary  have  made  another  City  that  is  clept  Caydon. 
And  it  hath  12  Gates,  and  between  2  Gates  there  is  always  a 
great  Mile;  so  that  the  2  Cities,  that  is  to  say,  the  old  and 
the  new,  have  in  Circuit  more  than  20  Mile. 

In  this  City  is  the  Seat  of  the  great  Chan  in  a  full  great 
Palace  and  the  most  passing  fair  in  all  the  World,  of  the 
which  the  Walls  be  in  Circuit  more  than  2  Mile.  And  within 
the  Walls  it  is  all  full  of  other  Palaces.  And  in  the  Garden 
of  the  great  Palace  there  is  a  great  Hill,  upon  the  which  there 
is  another  Palace  ;  and  it  is  the  most  fair  and  the  most  rich 
that  any  Man  may  devise.  And  all  about  the  Palace  and  the 
Hill  be  many  Trees  bearing  many  diverse  Fruits.  And  all 
about  that  Hill  be  Ditches  great  and  deep,  and  beside  them, 
on  the  one  Side  and  on  the  other,  be  great  Vivaries.     And 


134  MANDEVILLE 

there  is  a  full  fair  Bridge  to  pass  over  the  Ditches.  And  in 
these  Vivaries  be  so  many  wild  Geese  and  Ganders  and  wild 
Ducks  and  Swans  and  Herons  that  they  are  without  Number. 
And  all  about  these  Ditches  and  Vivaries  is  the  great  Garden 
full  of  wild  Beasts.  So  that  when  the  great  Chan  will  have 
any  Sport  therein,  to  take  any  of  the  wild  Beasts  or  of  the 
Fowls,  he  will  make  chase  them  and  take  them  at  the  Win- 
dows without  going  out  of  his  Chamber. 

This  Palace  where  his  Seat  is,  is  both  great  and  passing 
fair.  And  within  the  Palace,  in  the  Hall,  there  be  24  Pillars 
of  fine  Gold.  And  all  the  Walls  be  covered  within  with  red 
Skins  of  Beasts  that  Men  call  Panthers,  that  be  fair  Beasts 
and  well  smelling  ;  so  that  for  the  sweet  Odour  of  those  Skins 
no  evil  Air  may  enter  into  the  Palace.  Those  Skins  be  as 
red  as  Blood,  and  they  shine  so  bright  against  the  Sun,  that 
scarcely  may  a  Man  behold  them.  And  many  Folk  worship 
those  Beasts,  when  they  meet  them  first  of  a  Morning,  for 
their  great  Virtue  and  for  the  good  Smell  that  they  have. 
And  those  Skins  they  prize  more  than  though  they  were  Plates 
of  fine  Gold. 

And  in  the  Midst  of  this  Palace  is  the  Mountour  (or  Dais) 
for  the  great  Chan,  that  is  all  wrought  of  Gold  and  of  pre- 
cious Stones  and  great  Pearls.  And  at  the  4  Corners  of  the 
Mountour  be  4  Serpents  of  Gold.  And  all  about  there  are 
made  large  Nets  of  Silk  and  Gold  and  great  Pearls  hanging 
all  about  the  Mountour.  And  under  the  Mountour  be  Con- 
duits of  Beverage  that  they  drink  in  the  Emperor's  Court. 
And  beside  the  Conduits  be  many  Vessels  of  Gold,  by  the 
which  they  that  be  of  the  Household  drink  at  the  Conduit. 

And  the  Hall  of  the  Palace  is  full  nobly  arrayed,  and  full 
marvellously  attired  on  all  Parts  in  all  Things  that  Men  ap- 
parel any  Hall  with.  And  first,  at  the  Head  of  the  Hall  is 
the  Emperor's  Throne,  full  high,  where  he  sitteth  at  Meat. 
And  that  is  of  fine  precious  Stones,  bordered  all  about  with 
purified  Gold  and  precious  Stones  and  great  Pearls.  And 
the  Steps  that  he  goeth  up  to  the  Table  on  be  of  precious 
Stones  mingled  with  Gold. 

And  at  the  left  Side  of  the  Emperor's  Seat  is  the  Seat  of 
his  first  Wife,  one  Degree  lower  than  the  Emperor ;  and  it  is 
of  Jasper,  bordered  with  Gold  and  precious  Stones.     And  the 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 35 

Seat  of  his  2nd  Wife  is  also  another  Seat,  more  lower  than 
his  first  Wife ;  and  it  is  also  of  Jasper,  bordered  with  Gold, 
as  that  other  is.  And  the  Seat  of  the  3rd  Wife  is  also  more 
low,  by  a  Degree,  than  the  2nd  Wife.  For  he  hath  always 
3  Wives  with  him,  where  that  ever  he  be. 

And  after  his  Wives,  on  the  same  Side,  sit  the  Ladies  of  his 
Lineage  yet  lower,  after  that  Estate  they  be  of.  And  all  those 
that  be  married  have  a  Counterfeit  (or  Token)  made  like  a 
Man's  Foot  upon  their  Heads  a  Cubit  long,  all  wrought  with 
great  Pearls,  fine  and  orient,  and  above  made  with  Peacocks' 
Feathers  and  of  other  shining  Feathers ;  and  that  stands  on 
their  Heads  like  a  Crest,  in  Token  that  they  be  under  Man's 
Foot  and  under  Subjection  of  Man.  And  they  that  be  un- 
married have  none  such. 

And  after  at  the  right  Side  of  the  Emperor  first  sitteth  his 
eldest  Son  that  shall  reign  after  him.  And  he  sitteth  also 
one  Degree  lower  than  the  Emperor,  in  such  manner  of  Seats 
as  do  the  Empresses.  And  after  him  sit  other  great  Lords 
of  his  Lineage,  every  one  of  them  a  Degree  lower  than  the 
other,  as  they  be  of  Estate. 

And  the  Emperor  hath  his  Table  alone  by  himself,  that  is 
of  Gold  and  of  precious  Stones,  or  of  Crystal  bordered  with 
Gold,  and  full  of  precious  Stones,  or  of  Amethysts,  or  of 
Lignum  Aloes  that  cometh  out  of  Paradise,  or  of  Ivory  bound 
or  bordered  with  Gold.  And  every  one  of  his  Wives  hath 
also  her  Table  by  herself.  And  his  eldest  Son  and  the  other 
Lords  also,  and  the  Ladies,  and  all  that  sit  with  the  Emperor, 
have  Tables  alone  by  themselves,  full  rich.  And  there  is  no 
Table  but  that  is  worth  an  huge  Treasure  of  Goods. 

And  under  the  Emperor's  Table  sit  4  Clerks  that  write  all 
that  the  Emperor  saith,  be  it  good,  be  it  evil  ;  for  all  that  he 
saith  must  be  held  good,  for  he  may  not  change  his  Word,  nor 
revoke  it. 

At  great  solemn  Feasts  Men  bring  before  the  Emperor's 
Table  great  Tables  of  Gold,  and  thereon  be  Peacocks  of  Gold 
and  many  other  Manner  of  divers  Fowls,  all  of  Gold  and 
richly  wrought  and  enamelled.  And  Men  make  them  dance 
and  sing,  clapping  their  Wings  together,  and  making  great 
Noise.  And  whether  it  be  by  Craft  or  by  Necromancy  I  wot 
never ;  but  it  is  a  good  Sight  to  behold,  and  a  fair ;  and  it  is 


136  MANDEVILLE 

a  great  Marvel  how  it  may  be.  But  I  have  the  less  Marvel, 
because  that  they  be  the  most  subtle  Men  in  all  Sciences  and 
in  all  Crafts  that  be  in  the  World  ;  for  of  Subtlety  and  of 
Malice  and  of  Forecasting  they  pass  all  Men  under  Heaven. 
And  therefore  they  themselves  say,  that  they  see  with  2  Eyes 
and  the  Christian  Men  see  but  with  one,  because  that  they 
be  more  subtle  than  they.  For  all  other  Nations,  they  say, 
be  but  blind  in  knowing  and  working  in  Comparison  to  them. 
I  did  great  Business  to  have  learned  that  Craft,  but  the 
Master  told  me  that  he  had  made  a  Vow  to  his  God  to  teach 
it  to  no  Creature,  but  only  to  his  eldest  Son. 

Also  above  the  Emperor's  Table  and  the  other  Tables,  and 
above  a  great  Part  of  the  Hall,  is  a  Vine  made  of  fine  Gold. 
And  it  spreadeth  all  about  the  Hall.  And  it  hath  many 
Clusters  of  Grapes,  some  white,  some  green,  some  yellow  and 
some  red  and  some  black,  all  of  precious  Stones.  The  white 
be  of  Crystal  and  of  Beryl  and  of  Iris  ;  the  yellow  be  of 
Topazes  ;  the  red  be  of  Rubies  and  of  Garnets  and  of  Ala- 
brandines ;  the  green  be  of  Emeralds  of  Perydoz  and  of 
Chrysolites;  and  the  black  be  of  Onyx  and  Garnets.  And 
they  be  all  so  properly  made  that  it  seemeth  a  veritable  Vine 
bearing  natural  Grapes, 

And  before  the  Emperor's  Table  stand  great  Lords  and 
rich  Barons  and  others  that  serve  the  Emperor  at  Meat. 
And  no  Man  is  so  hardy  to  speak  a  Word,  but  if  the  Emperor 
speak  to  him  ;  unless  it  be  Minstrels  that  sing  Songs  and  tell 
Jests  or  other  Disports,  to  solace  the  Emperor  with.  And 
all  the  Vessels  that  Men  be  served  with  in  the  Hall  or  in 
Chambers  be  of  precious  Stones,  and  especially  at  great 
Tables  either  of  Jasper  or  of  Crystal  or  of  Amethysts  or  of 
fine  Gold.  And  the  Cups  be  of  Emeralds  and  of  Sapphires, 
or  of  Topazes,  of  Perydoz  and  of  many  other  precious  Stones. 
Vessel  of  Silver  is  there  none,  for  they  set  no  Price  thereon 
to  make  Vessels ;  but  they  make  thereof  Stairs  and  Pillars 
and  Pavements  to  Halls  and  Chambers.  And  before  the 
Hall  Door  stand  many  Barons  and  Knights  fully  armed  to 
keep  it  that  no  Man  enter,  but  if  it  be  the  Will  or  the  Com- 
mandment of  the  Emperor,  or  if  they  be  Servants  or  Minstrels 
of  the  Household ;  and  none  other  is  so  hardy  as  to  draw 
nigh  the  Hall  Door. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 37 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  ray  Fellows  and  I  with  our 
Yeomen,  we  served  this  Emperor,  and  were  his  Soldiers  15 
Months  against  the  King  of  Mancy,  that  held  War  against 
him.  And  the  Cause  was  that  we  had  great  Lust  to  see  his 
Noblesse  and  the  Estate  of  his  Court  and  all  his  Governance, 
to  wit  if  it  were  such  as  we  heard  say  that  it  was.  And  truly 
we  found  it  more  noble  and  more  excellent,  and  richer  and 
more  marvellous,  than  ever  we  heard  speak  of,  insomuch  that 
we  would  never  have  believed  it  had  we  not  seen  it.  For  I 
trow,  that  no  Man  would  believe  the  Noblesse,  the  Riches 
nor  the  Multitude  of  Folk  that  be  in  his  Court,  but  he  had 
seen  it ;  for  it  is  not  there  as  it  is  here.  For  the  Lords  here 
have  Folk  of  a  certain  Number  as  it  may  suffice  them  ;  but 
the  great  Chan  hath  every  Day  Folk  at  his  Cost  and  Ex- 
pense without  Number.  But  neither  the  Ordinance,  nor  the 
Expenses  in  Meat  and  Drink,  nor  the  Honesty,  nor  the 
Cleanness  is  so  arrayed  there  as  it  is  here ;  for  all  the  Com- 
mons there  eat  without  Cloth  upon  their  Knees,  and  they 
eat  all  manner  of  Flesh  and  little  of  Bread,  and  after  Meat 
they  wipe  their  Hands  upon  their  Skirts,  and  they  eat  not 
but  once  a  Day.  But  the  Estate  of  Lords  is  full  great,  rich 
and  noble. 

And  albeit  that  some  Men  will  not  believe  me,  but  hold  it 
for  Fable  to  tell  them  the  Noblesse  of  his  Person  and  of  his 
Estate  and  of  his  Court  and  of  the  great  Multitude  of  Folk 
that  he  holds,  nevertheless  I  shall  tell  you  somewhat  of  him 
and  of  his  Folk,  and  the  Manner  and  the  Ordinance,  after 
that  I  have  seen  full  many  a  Time.  And  whoso  that  will 
may  believe  me  if  he  will,  and  whoso  will  not,  may  so  choose. 
For  I  wo*"  well,  if  any  Man  hath  been  in  those  Countries  be- 
yond, though  he  have  not  been  in  that  Place  where  the  great 
Chan  dwelleth,  he  shall  hear  speak  of  him  so  many  marvellous 
Things,  that  he  shall  not  believe  it  lightly.  And  truly,  no 
more  did  I  myself,  till  I  saw  it.  And  those  that  have  been 
in  those  Countries  and  in  the  great  Chan's  Household  know 
well  that  I  say  Truth.  And  therefore  I  will  not  spare 
my  words  because  of  them,  that  know  nought  nor  believe 
nought,  but  that  which  they  see,  but  will  tell  you  somewhat 
of  him  and  of  his  Estate  that  he  holds,  when  he  goeth  from 
Country  to  Country,  and  when  he  maketh  solemn  Feasts. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

Wlierefore  he  is  clept  the  great  Chan.     Of  the  Style  of  his  Letters  ; 
and  of  the  Superscription  about  his  Great  Seal  and  his  Privy  Seal 

FIRST  I  shall  say  to  you  why  he  was  clept  the  great 
Chan. 
Ye  shall  understand,  that  all  the  World  was  destroyed 
by  Noah's  Flood,  save  only  Noah  and  his  Wife  and  his  Chil- 
dren. Noah  had  three  Sons,  Shem,  Cham  (Ham)  and  Japhet. 
This  Cham  was  he  that  saw  his  Father's  Nakedness  when  he 
slept,  and  scorned  him,  and  shewed  him  with  his  Finger  to 
his  Brethren  in  scorning  Wise.  And  therefore  he  was  cursed 
of  God.  And  Japhet  turned  his  Face  away  and  covered  him. 
These  3  Brethren  seized  all  the  Land.  And  this  Cham, 
for  his  Cruelty,  took  the  greater  and  the  best  Part,  toward 
the  East,  that  is  clept  Asia,  and  Shem  took  Africa,  and  Ja- 
phet took  Europe.  And  therefore  is  all  the  Earth  parted  in 
these  3  Parts  by  these  3  Brethren.  Cham  was  the  greatest 
and  the  most  mighty,  and  of  him  came  more  Generations 
than  of  the  others.  And  of  his  Son  Cush  was  engendered 
Nimrod  the  Giant,  that  was  the  first  King  that  ever  was  in 
the  World  ;  and  he  began  the  Foundation  of  the  Tower  of 
Babylon.  And  that  Time,  the  Fiends  of  Hell  came  many 
Times  and  lay  with  the  Women  of  his  Generation  and  engen- 
dered on  them  divers  Folk,  as  Monsters  and  Folk  disfigured, 
some  without  Heads,  some  with  great  Ears,  some  with  one 
Eye,  some  Giants,  some  with  Horses'  Feet,  and  many  other 
diverse  Shapes  against  Nature.  And  of  that  Generation  of 
Cham  come  the  Paynims  and  divers  Folk  that  be  in  Isles  of 
the  Sea  by  all  Ind.  And  forasmuch  as  he  was  the  most 
mighty,  and  no  Man  might  withstand  him,  he  called  himself 
the  Son  of  God  and  Sovereign  of  all  the  World.  And  from 
this  Cham,  this  Emperor  calleth  himself  "  Cham"  and  Sover- 
eign of  all  the  World. 

138 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 39 

And  of  the  Generation  of  Shem  be  come  the  Saracens. 
And  of  the  Generation  of  Japhet  is  come  the  People  of  Israel, 
and  we  that  dwell  in  Europe.  This  is  the  Opinion  that  the 
Syrians  and  Samaritans  have  amongst  them.  And  that  they 
told  me,  before  that  I  went  toward  Ind,  but  I  found  it  other- 
wise. Nevertheless,  the  Truth  is  this  :  that  the  Tartars  and 
they  that  dwell  in  the  great  Asia,  they  came  of  Cham  ;  but 
the  Emperor  of  Cathay  calleth  himself  not  "  Cham,"  but 
"Chan,"  and  I  shall  tell  you  how. 

It  is  but  little  more  than  8  Score  Year  that  all  Tartary  was 
in  Subjection  and  in  Servage  to  other  Nations  about.  For 
they  were  but  Beast-herding  Folk  and  did  nothing  but  kept 
Beasts  and  led  them  to  Pastures.  But  among  them  they  had 
7  principal  Nations  that  were  Sovereigns  of  them  all.  Of  the 
which,  the  first  Nation  or  Lineage  was  clept  Tartar,  and  that 
is  the  most  noble  and  the  most  prized.  The  2nd  Lineage  is 
clept  Tanghot,  the  3rd  Eurache,  the  4th  Valair,  the  5th  Sem- 
oche,  the  6th  Megly,  the  7th  Coboghe. 

Now  befell  it  so  that  of  the  first  Lineage  succeeded  an  old 
worthy  Man  that  was  not  rich,  that  had  to  Name  Ghengis. 
This  Man  lay  upon  a  Night  in  his  Bed.  And  he  saw  in  a 
Vision,  that  there  came  before  him  a  Knight  armed  all  in 
White.  And  he  sat  upon  a  White  Horse,  and  said  to  him, 
"  Chan,  slee{>est  thou  ?  The  Immortal  God  hath  sent  me  to 
thee,  and  it  is  His  Will,  that  thou  go  to  the  7  Lineages  and 
say  to  them  that  thou  shalt  be  their  Emperor.  For  thou  shalt 
conquer  the  Lands  and  the  Countries  that  be  about,  and  they 
that  march  upon  you  shall  be  under  your  Subjection,  as  ye 
have  been  under  theirs,  for  that  is  God's  Will  immortal ! " 

And  when  it  became  Morning,  Ghengis  rose,  and  went  to 
the  7  Lineages,  and  told  them  how  the  Knight  had  said.  And 
they  scorned  him,  and  said  that  he  was  a  Fool.  And  so  he 
departed  from  them  all  ashamed.  And  on  the  Night  ensuing, 
this  White  Knight  came  to  the  7  Lineages,  and  commanded 
them  on  Immortal  God's  Behalf,  that  they  should  make  this 
Ghengis  their  Emperor,  and  they  should  be  out  of  Subjection, 
and  they  should  hold  all  other  Regions  about  them  in  their 
Servage  as  they  had  been  to  them  before.  And  on  the  Mor- 
row, they  chose  him  to  be  their  Emperor.  And  they  set  him 
upon  a  black  Litter,  and  after  that  they  lifted  him  up  with 


140  MANDEVILLE 

great  Solemnity.  And  they  set  him  in  a  Chair  of  Gold  and 
did  him  all  manner  of  Reverence,  and  they  called  him  "  Chan," 
as  the  White  Knight  called  him. 

And  when  he  was  thus  chosen,  he  would  assay  if  he  might 
trust  in  them  or  not,  and  whether  they  would  be  obeissant  to 
him  or  not.  And  then  he  made  many  Statutes  and  Ordi- 
nances that  they  called  "  Ysya  Chan."  The  first  Statute  was, 
that  they  should  believe  in  and  obey  Immortal  God,  that  is 
Almighty,  that  would  cast  them  out  of  Servage,  and  at  all 
Times  call  to  Him  for  Help  in  Time  of  Need.  The  tother 
Statute  was,  that  all  manner  of  Men  that  might  bear  Arms 
should  be  numbered,  and  to  every  lo  should  be  a  Master,  and 
to  every  lOO  a  Master,  and  to  every  looo  a  Master,  and  to 
every  10,000  a  Master.  After  he  commanded  to  the  Princi- 
pals of  the  7  Lineages,  that  they  should  leave  and  forsake  all 
that  they  had  in  Goods  and  Heritage,  and  from  thenceforth 
hold  them  paid  of  what  he  would  give  them  of  his  Grace. 
And  they  did  so  anon.  After  he  commanded  to  the  Princi- 
pals of  the  7  Lineages,  that  every  one  of  them  should  bring 
his  eldest  Son  before  him,  and  with  their  own  Hands  smite 
off  their  Heads  without  tarrying.  And  anon  his  Command- 
ment was  performed. 

And  when  the  Chan  saw  that  they  made  no  Obstacle  to 
perform  his  Commandment,  then  he  thought  well  that  he 
might  trust  in  them,  and  commanded  them  anon  to  make 
them  ready  and  to  follow  his  Banner.  And  after  this,  Chan 
put  in  Subjection  all  the  Lands  about  him. 

Afterward  it  befell  upon  a  Day,  that  the  Chan  rode  with  a 
few  Companies  to  behold  the  Strength  of  the  Country  that 
he  had  won.  And  so  it  befell,  that  a  great  Multitude  of  his 
Enemies  met  with  him.  And  to  give  good  Example  of 
Hardiness  to  his  People,  he  was  the  first  that  fought,  and 
encountered  his  Enemies  in  the  Midst,  and  there  he  was  cast 
from  his  Horse,  and  his  Horse  slain.  And  when  his  Folk 
saw  him  on  the  Earth,  they  were  all  abashed,  and  thought  he 
had  been  dead,  and  fled  every  one.  And  their  Enemies  fol- 
lowed after  and  chased  them,  but  they  wist  not  that  the  Em- 
peror was  there.  And  when  they  were  come  again  from  the 
Chase,  they  went  and  sought  the  Woods  if  any  of  them  had 
been  hid  in  the  Thick  of  the  Woods ;  and  many  they  found 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  I41 

and  slew  them  anon.  So  it  happened  as  they  went  searching 
toward  the  Place  where  that  the  Emperor  was,  they  saw  an 
Owl  sitting  upon  a  Tree  above  him ;  and  then  they  said 
amongst  them,  that  no  Man  was  there  because  that  they  saw 
that  Bird  there,  and  so  they  went  their  Way ;  and  thus  es- 
caped the  Emperor  from  Death.  And  then  he  went  privily 
all  by  Night,  till  he  came  to  his  Folk  that  were  full  glad  of 
his  coming,  and  made  great  Thankings  to  Immortal  God,  and 
to  that  Bird  by  whom  their  Lord  was  saved.  And  therefore 
principally  above  all  Fowls  of  the  World  they  worship  the 
Owl ;  and  when  they  have  any  of  their  Feathers,  they  keep 
them  full  preciously  instead  of  Relics,  and  bear  them  upon 
their  Heads  with  great  Reverence  ;  and  they  hold  themselves 
blessed  and  safe  from  all  Perils  while  that  they  have  them 
upon  them,  and  therefore  they  bear  their  Feathers  upon  their 
Heads. 

After  all  this  the  Chan  put  his  Affairs  in  Order  and  assem- 
bled his  People,  and  went  against  them  that  had  assailed  him 
before,  and  destroyed  them,  and  put  them  in  Subjection  and 
Servage. 

And  when  he  had  won  and  put  all  the  Lands  and  Countries 
on  this  Side  the  Mount  Belian  in  Subjection,  the  White  Knight 
came  to  him  again  in  his  Sleep,  and  said  to  him,  "  Chan  !  the 
Will  of  Immortal  God  is  that  thou  pass  the  Mount  Belian. 
And  thou  shalt  win  the  Land  and  thou  shalt  put  many 
Nations  in  Subjection.  And  as  thou  shalt  find  no  good 
Passage  to  go  toward  that  Country,  go  to  the  Mount  Belian 
that  is  upon  the  Sea,  and  kneel  there  9  Times  toward  the 
East  in  the  Worship  of  Immortal  God.  And  He  shall  shew 
the  Way  to  pass  by."  And  the  Chan  did  so.  And  anon  the 
Sea  that  touched  and  was  fast  by  the  Mount  began  to  with- 
draw himself,  and  shewed  a  fair  Way  of  9  Foot  broad  large ; 
and  so  he  passed  with  his  Folk,  and  won  the  Land  of  Cathay 
that  is  the  greatest  Kingdom  of  the  World. 

And  for  the  9  Kneelings  and  for  the  9  Foot  of  Way  the 
Chan  and  all  the  Men  of  Tartary  have  the  Number  of  9  in 
great  Reverence.  And  therefore  who  that  will  make  the 
Chan  any  Present,  be  it  of  Horses,  or  of  Birds,  or  of  Arrows, 
or  of  Fruit,  or  of  any  other  Thing,  always  he  must  make  it 
of  the  Number  9.     And  so  then  be  the  Presents  of  greater 


142  MANDEVILLE 

Pleasure  to  him  ;  and  more  benignly  he  will  receive  them 
than  though  he  were  presented  with  an  lOO  or  200.  For  to 
him  seemeth  the  Number  of  9  so  holy,  because  the  Messenger 
of  Immortal  God  so  devised  it. 

Also,  when  the  Chan  of  Cathay  had  won  the  Country  of 
Cathay,  and  put  in  Subjection  and  under  Foot  many  Coun- 
tries about,  he  fell  sick.  And  when  he  felt  that  he  should 
well  die,  he  said  to  his  12  Sons,  that  every  one  of  them 
should  bring  him  one  of  his  Arrows.  And  so  they  did  anon. 
And  then  he  commanded  that  Men  should  bind  them  together 
in  3  Places.  And  then  he  took  them  to  his  eldest  Son,  and 
bade  him  break  them  all  together.  And  he  strove  with  all 
his  Might  to  break  them,  but  he  might  not.  And  then  the 
Chan  bade  his  2nd  Son  to  break  them  ;  and  so,  shortly,  to  all, 
each  after  the  other  ;  but  none  of  them  might  break  them. 
And  then  he  bade  the  youngest  Son  dissever  every  one  from 
the  other,  and  break  every  one  by  itself.  And  so  he  did. 
And  then  said  the  Chan  to  his  eldest  Son  and  to  all  the 
others,  "  Wherefore  might  ye  not  break  them  }  "  And  they 
answered,  that  they  might  not,  because  they  were  bound  to- 
gether. "  And  wherefore,"  quoth  he,  "  hath  your  little  young- 
est Brother  broken  them.''"  "Because,"  quoth  they,  "that 
they  were  parted  each  from  the  other."  And  then  said  the 
Chan,  "My  Sons,"  quoth  he,  "truly'thus  will  it  fare  by  you. 
For  as  long  as  ye  be  bound  together  in  3  Places,  that  is  to 
say,  in  Love,  in  Truth  and  in  good  Accord,  no  Man  shall  be 
of  Power  to  grieve  you.  But  and  ye  be  dissevered  from  these 
3  Places,  that  the  one  help  not  the  other,  ye  shall  be  de- 
stroyed and  brought  to  Nought.  And  if  each  of  you  love  the 
other  and  help  the  other,  ye  shall  be  Lords  and  Sovereigns 
of  all  others."  And  when  he  had  made  his  Ordinances,  he 
died. 

And  then  after  him  reigned  Oktai  Chan,  his  eldest  Son. 
And  his  other  Brethren  went  to  win  them  many  Countries 
and  Kingdoms,  unto  the  Land  of  Prussia  and  of  Russia,  and 
made  themselves  to  be  clept  Chans  ;  but  they  were  all  obeis- 
sant  to  their  elder  Brother,  and  therefore  was  he  clept  the 
great  Chan. 

After  Oktai  reigned  Gaiouk  Chan. 

And  after  him  Mango  Chan,  that  was  a  good  Christian 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  143 

Man  and  baptized,  and  gave  Letters  of  perpetual  Peace  to 
all  Christian  Men,  and  sent  his  Brother  Halaon  with  great 
Multitude  of  Folk  to  win  the  Holy  Land  and  to  put  it  into 
Christian  Mens'  Hands,  and  to  destroy  Mohammet's  Law, 
and  to  take  the  Caliph  of  Bagdad  that  was  Emperor  and  Lord 
of  all  the  Saracens.  And  when  this  Caliph  was  taken.  Men 
found  him  of  so  high  Worship,  that  in  all  the  Rest  of  the 
World  a  Man  might  not  find  a  more  reverend  Man,  nor  a 
higher  in  Worship.  And  then  Halaon  made  him  come  be- 
fore him,  and  said  to  him,  "  Why,"  quoth  he,  "  haddest  thou 
not  taken  with  thee  more  Soldiers  and  Men  enough,  hired  for 
a  little  Quantity  of  Treasure,  to  defend  thee  and  thy  Country, 
that  art  so  abundant  of  Treasure  and  so  high  in  all  Worship  .-*  " 
And  the  Caliph  answered  him,  that  he  well  trowed  that  he 
had  enough  of  his  own  proper  Men.  And  then  said  Halaon, 
"Thou  wert  as  a  God  of  the  Saracens.  And  it  is  convenient 
to  a  God  to  eat  no  Meat  that  is  mortal.  And  therefore,  thou 
shalt  not  eat  but  precious  Stones,  rich  Pearls  and  Treasure, 
that  thou  lovest  so  much."  And  then  he  commanded  him 
to  Prison,  and  all  his  Treasure  about  him.  And  so  he  died 
for  Hunger  and  Thirst.  And  then  after  this,  Halaon  won 
all  the  Land  of  Promise,  and  put  it  into  Christian  Men's 
Hands.  But  the  great  Chan,  his  Brother,  died;  and  that 
was  great  Sorrow  and  Loss  to  all  Christian  Men. 

After  Mango  Chan  reigned  Houlagou  Chan,  that  was  also 
a  Christian  Man.  And  he  reigned  42  Year.  He  founded 
the  great  City  Izonge  in  Cathay,  that  is  a  great  deal  larger 
than  Rome. 

The  tother  great  Chan  that  came  after  him  became  a  Pay- 
nim,  and  all  the  others  after  him. 

The  Kingdom  of  Cathay  is  the  greatest  Realm  of  the 
World.  And  also  the  great  Chan  is  the  most  mighty  Em- 
peror of  the  World  and  the  greatest  Lord  under  the  Firma- 
ment. And  so  he  calleth  himself  in  his  Letters,  right  thus : 
"  Chan  !  Filius  Dei  Excelsi,  Omnium  universam  Terram 
colentium  summus  Imperator,  et  Dominus  omnium  Domi- 
nantium  !  "  ("  Chan  !  Son  of  Almighty  God,  High  Emperor 
of  all  that  till  the  whole  Earth,  and  Lord  of  all  Lordships ! ") 
And  the  Letter  of  his  Great  Seal,  written  about,  is  this : 
"Deus  in  Coelo,  Chan  super  Terram,  ejus  Fortitudo !     Om- 


144  MANDEVILLE 

nium  Hominum  Imperatoris  Sigillum ! "  ("  God  in  Heaven, 
Chan  upon  Earth,  his  Strength !  The  Seal  of  the  Emperor 
of  all  Men  !  ")  And  the  Superscription  about  his  Little  Seal 
is  this:  "Dei  Fortitude!  omnium  Hominum  Imperatoris 
Sigillum  !  "  ("  God  of  Strength  !  the  Seal  of  the  Emperor  of 
all  Men  !  ") 

And  albeit  that  they  be  not  christened,  yet  nevertheless 
the  Emperor  and  all  the  Tartars  believe  in  Immortal  God. 
And  when  they  will  menace  any  Man,  then  they  say,  "  God 
knoweth  well  that  I  shall  do  thee  such  a  Thing,"  and  telleth 
his  Menace. 

And  thus  have  ye  heard,  why  he  is  clept  the  great  Chan. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

Of  the  Governance  of  the  great  Chan's  Court,  and  when  he  maketh 
solemn  Feasts.  Of  his  Philosophers.  And  of  his  Array,  when  he 
rideth  by  the  Country 

N'  OW  shall  I  tell  you  the  Governance  of  the  Court  of  the 
great  Chan,  when  he  maketh  solemn  Feasts  ;  and  that 
-  is  principally  4  Times  in  the  Year, 

The  first  Feast  is  of  his  Birth,  the  next  is  of  his  Presenta- 
tion in  their  Temple  that  they  call  their  Mosque,  where  they 
make  a  manner  of  Circumcision,  and  the  tother  2  Feasts  be 
of  his  Idols.  The  first  Feast  of  the  Idol  is  when  he  is  first 
put  into  their  Temple  and  throned  ;  the  tother  Feast  is  when 
the  Idol  beginneth  first  to  speak,  or  to  work  Miracles.  More 
be  there  not  of  solemn  Feasts,  but  and  if  he  will  marry  any 
of  his  Children. 

Now  understand,  that  at  every  one  of  these  Feasts  he  hath 
great  Multitude  of  People,  well  ordained  and  well  arrayed,  by 
thousands,  by  hundreds,  and  by  tens.  And  every  Man  know- 
eth  well  what  Service  he  shall  do,  and  every  Man  giveth  so 
good  Heed  and  so  good  Attendance  to  his  Service  that  no 
Man  findeth  any  Default.  And  there  be  first  ordained  4000 
Barons,  mighty  and  rich,  to  govern  and  to  make  Ordinance 
for  the  Feast,  and  to  serve  the  Emperor.  And  these  solemn 
Feasts  be  made  without  in  Halls  and  Tents  made  of  Cloths 
of  Gold  and  of  Tartarins,^  full  nobly.  And  all  those  Barons 
have  Crowns  of  Gold  upon  their  Heads,  full  noble  and  rich, 
full  of  precious  Stones  and  great  orient  Pearls.  And  they  be 
all  clothed  in  Cloths  of  Gold  or  of  Tartarins  or  of  Camakas, 
so  richly  and  so  perfectly,  that  no  Man  in  the  World  can 
amend  it,  nor  better  devise  it.  And  all  those  Robes  be  or- 
frayed  all  about,  and  dubbed  full  of  precious  Stones  and  of 
great  orient  Pearls,  full  richly.  And  they  may  well  be  so,  for 
Cloths  of  Gold  and  of  Silk  be  more  cheap  there  a  great  deal 

1  A  kind  of  silk. 
"  145 


146  MANDEVILLE 

than  be  Cloths  of  Wool.  And  these  4000  Barons  be  devised 
in  4  Companies,  and  every  1000  is  clothed  in  Cloths  all  of 
one  Colour,  and  that  so  well  arrayed  and  so  richly,  that  it  is 
a  Marvel  to  behold. 

The  I  St  1000,  that  is  of  Dukes,  of  Earls,  of  Marquises  and 
of  Admirals,  is  all  clothed  in  Cloths  of  Gold,  with  Tissues  of 
green  Silk,  and  bordered  with  Gold  full  of  precious  Stones  in 
manner  as  I  have  said  before.  The  2nd  1000  is  all  clothed  in 
diapered  Cloths  of  red  Silk,  all  wrought  with  Gold,  and  the 
Orfrays  set  full  of  great  Pearls  and  precious  Stones,  full  nobly 
wrought.  The  3rd  1000  is  clothed  in  Cloths  of  Silk,  of  pur- 
ple or  of  Ind.  And  the  4th  1000  is  in  Cloths  of  yellow.  And 
all  their  Cloths  be  so  nobly  and  richly  wrought  with  Gold  and 
precious  Stones  and  rich  Pearls,  that  if  a  Man  of  this  Coun- 
try had  but  only  one  of  their  Robes,  he  might  well  say  that 
he  should  never  be  poor  ;  for  the  Gold  and  the  precious  Stones 
and  the  great  orient  Pearls  be  of  greater  Value  on  this  side 
the  Sea  than  they  be  beyond  the  Sea  in  those  Countries. 

And  when  they  be  thus  apparelled,  they  go  2  and  2  to- 
gether, full  orderly,  before  the  Emperor,  without  Speech  of 
any  Word,  save  only  inclining  to  him.  And  every  one  of 
them  beareth  a  Tablet  of  Jasper  or  of  Ivory  or  of  Crystal, 
the  Minstrels  going  before  them,  sounding  their  Instruments 
of  divers  Melody.  And  when  the  ist  1000  is  thus  passed 
and  hath  made  its  Muster,  it  withdraweth  itself  on  the  one 
Side  ;  and  then  entereth  that  other  2nd  1000,  and  doth  right 
so,  in  the  same  Manner  of  Array  and  Countenance,  as  did 
the  ist;  and  after,  the  3rd  ;  and  then,  the  4th  ;  and  none  of 
them  saith  any  one  Word. 

And  at  one  Side  of  the  Emperor's  Table  sit  many  Philoso- 
phers that  be  proved  for  wise  Men  in  many  diverse  Sciences, 
as  of  Astronomy,  Necromancy,  Geomancy,  Pyromancy, 
Hydromancy,  of  Augury  and  of  many  other  Sciences.  And 
every  one  of  them  hath  before  them  Astrolabes  of  Gold,  or 
Spheres,  and  some  the  Brain  Pan  of  a  dead  Man,  some  Ves- 
sels of  Gold  full  of  Gravel  or  Sand,  some  Vessels  of  Gold  full 
of  Coals  burning,  some  Vessels  of  Gold  full  of  Water  and  of 
Wine  and  of  Oil,  and  some  Horologes  of  Gold,  made  full  nobly 
and  richly  wrought,  and  many  other  Manner  of  Instruments 
after  their  Sciences. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  I47 

And  at  certain  Hours,  when  they  think  Time,  they  say  to 
certain  Officers  that  stand  before  them  ordained  for  the  Time 
to  fulfil  their  Commandments  :  "  Make  Peace  !  " 

And  then  say  the  Officers  :  "  Now  Peace  listeneth  ! " 

And  after  that,  saith  another  of  the  Philosophers  :  "  Every 
Man  do  Reverence  and  incline  to  the  Emperor,  that  is  God's 
Son  and  Sovereign  Lord  of  all  the  World !  For  now  is 
Time  !  "  And  then  every  Man  boweth  his  Head  toward  the 
Earth. 

And  then  commandeth  the  same  Philosopher  again  :  "  Stand 
up  !  "     And  they  do  so. 

And  at  another  Hour,  saith  another  Philosopher  :  "  Put 
your  little  Finger  in  your  Ears  !  "     And  anon  they  do  so. 

And  at  another  Hour,  saith  another  Philosopher :  "  Put 
your  Hand  before  your  Mouth  !  "     And  anon  they  do  so. 

And  at  another  Hour,  saith  another  Philosopher  :  "  Put 
your  Hand  upon  your  Head ! "  And  after  that  he  biddeth 
them  to  put  their  Hand  away.     And  they  do  so. 

And  so,  from  Hour  to  Hour,  they  command  certain  Things  ; 
and  they  say,  that  those  Things  have  diverse  Significations. 
And  I  asked  them  privily  what  those  Things  betokened.  And 
one  of  the  Masters  told  me,  that  the  Bowing  of  the  Head  at 
that  Hour  betokened  this,  that  all  those  that  bowed  their 
Heads  should  evermore  after  be  obeissant  and  true  to  the 
Emperor,  and  never,  for  Gifts  nor  for  Promise  of  any  Kind, 
be  false  nor  Traitor  unto  him  for  Good  nor  Evil.  And  the 
putting  of  the  little  Finger  in  the  Ear  betokeneth,  as  they 
say,  that  none  of  them  shall  hear  speak  any  contrarious  Thing 
of  the  Emperor  but  that  he  shall  tell  it  anon  to  his  Council 
or  discover  it  to  some  Men  that  will  make  Relation  thereof 
to  the  Emperor,  though  he  were  his  Father  or  Brother  or 
Son.  And  so  forth,  of  all  other  Things  that  be  done  by  the 
Philosophers,  they  told  me  the  Causes  of  many  diverse  Things. 
And  trust  right  well  in  certain,  that  no  Man  doth  anything 
for  the  Emperor  and  what  belongeth  to  him,  neither  Clothing 
nor  Bread  nor  Wine  nor  Bath  nor  any  other  Thing  that  be- 
longeth to  him,  but  at  certain  Hours  that  his  Philosophers 
will  devise.  And  if  there  fall  War  on  any  Side  to  the  Emperor, 
anon  the  Philosophers  come  and  say  their  Advice  after  their 
Calculations,  and    counsel  the  Emperor  of  their  Advice  by 


148  MANDEVILLE 

their  Sciences ;  so  that  the  Emperor  doth  nothing  without 
their  Counsel. 

And  when  the  Philosophers  have  done  and  performed  their 
Commandments,  then  the  Minstrels  begin  to  do  their  Min- 
strelsy, every  one  on  their  Instruments,  each  after  the  other, 
with  all  the  Melody  that  they  can  devise.  And  when  they 
have  done  this  a  good  while,  one  of  the  Officers  of  the  Em- 
peror goeth  up  on  a  high  Stage  wrought  full  curiously,  and 
crieth  and  saith  with  a  loud  Voice  :  "  Make  Peace  !  "  And 
then  every  Man  is  still. 

And  then,  anon  after,  all  the  Lords  that  be  of  the  Emperor's 
Lineage,  nobly  arrayed  in  rich  Cloths  of  Gold  and  royally 
apparelled  on  white  Steeds,  as  many  as  may  well  follow  him 
at  that  time,  be  ready  to  make  Presents  to  the  Emperor. 
And  then  saith  the  Steward  of  the  Court  to  the  Lords,  by 
Name  :  "  N.  of  N. ! "  and  nameth  first  the  most  noble  and  the 
worthiest  by  Name,  and  saith:  "Be  ye  ready  with  such  a 
Number  of  white  Horses,  to  serve  the  Emperor,  your  Sover- 
eign Lord  ! "  And  to  another  Lord  he  saith  :  "  N.  of  N.,  be 
ready  with  such  a  Number,  to  serve  your  Sovereign  Lord  ! " 
And  to  another,  right  so,  and  to  all  the  Lords  of  the  Em- 
peror's Lineage,  each  after  the  other,  as  they  be  of  Estate. 
And  when  they  be  all  called,  they  enter  each  after  the  other, 
and  present  the  white  Horses  to  the  Emperor,  and  then  go 
their  Way.  And  then  after,  all  the  other  Barons,  every  one 
of  them,  give  him  Presents  or  Jewels  or  some  other  Thing, 
after  that  they  be  of  Estate.  And  then  after  them,  all  the 
Prelates  of  their  Law,  and  religious  Men  and  others  ;  and 
every  Man  giveth  him  something.  And  when  that  all  Men 
have  thus  presented  to  the  Emperor,  the  greatest  of  Dignity 
of  the  Prelates  giveth  him  a  Blessing,  saying  an  Orison  of 
their  Law. 

And  then  begin  the  Minstrels  to  make  their  Minstrelsy 
on  divers  Instruments  with  all  the  Melody  that  they  can  de- 
vise. And  when  they  have  done  their  Craft,  then  they  bring 
before  the  Emperor,  Lions,  Leopards  and  other  divers  Beasts, 
and  Eagles  and  Vultures  and  other  divers  Fowls,  and  Fishes 
and  Serpents,  to  do  him  Reverence.  And  then  come  Jug- 
glers and  Enchanters,  that  do  many  Marvels ;  for  they  make, 
by  seeming,  the  Sun  and  the  Moon  to  come  in  the  Air,  to 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  I49 

every  Man's  Sight.  And  after  they  make  the  Night,  and  so 
dark  that  no  Man  may  see  anything.  And  after  they  make 
the  Day  to  come  again,  fair  and  pleasant  with  bright  Sun,  to 
every  Man's  Sight.  And  then  they  bring  in  Dances  of  the 
fairest  Damsels  of  the  World,  and  richest  arrayed.  And 
after  they  make  to  come  in  other  Damsels  bringing  Cups  of 
Gold  full  of  Milk  of  divers  Beasts,  that  give  Drink  to  Lords 
and  to  Ladies.  And  then  they  make  Knights  to  joust  in 
Arms  full  lustily ;  and  they  run  together  at  great  Speed,  and 
they  dash  head-long  together  full  fiercely,  and  they  break 
their  Spears  so  rudely  that  the  Fragments  fly  in  Splinters 
and  Pieces  all  about  the  Hall.  And  then  they  make  to  come 
in  an  Hunting  for  the  Hart  and  for  the  Boar,  with  Hounds 
running  with  open  Mouth.  And  many  other  Things  they  do 
by  Craft  of  their  Enchantments,  that  it  is  marvellous  to  see. 
And  such  Plays  of  Disport  they  make  till  the  taking  up  of 
the  Boards  of  the  Tables.  This  great  Chan  hath  full  many 
People  to  serve  him,  as  I  have  told  you  before.  For  he  hath 
of  Minstrels  the  Number  of  13  Cumants  (130,000),  but  they 
abide  not  always  with  him.  For  all  the  Minstrels  that  come 
before  him,  of  whatever  Nation  that  they  be  of,  they  be  with- 
held by  him  as  of  his  Household,  and  entered  in  his  Books 
as  his  own  Men.  And  after  that,  where  that  ever  they  go, 
they  claim  to  be  Minstrels  of  the  great  Chan  ;  and  under  that 
Title,  all  Kings  and  Lords  cherish  them  the  more  with  Gifts 
and  all  Things.  And  therefore  he  hath  so  great  a  Multitude 
of  them. 

And  he  hath  of  certain  Men  as  though  they  were  Yeomen, 
to  the  Amount  of  15  Cumants  (150,000)  of  Yeomen,  that 
keep  Birds,  as  Ostriches,  Gerfalcons,  Sparrowhawks,  Falcons 
fine,  Laner-hawks,  Sakers  (or  Peregrine-hawks),  Sakrets,  well 
speaking  Popinjays  (or  Parrots),  and  singing  Birds ;  and  also 
wild  Beasts,  as  Elephants  tame  and  other,  Baboons,  Apes, 
Marmosets,  and  other  divers  Beasts. 

And  of  Christian  Physicians  he  hath  200,  and  of  Leeches 
that  be  Christian  he  hath  210,  and  of  Leeches  and  Physicians 
that  be  Saracens  20,  but  he  trusteth  more  in  the  Christian 
Leeches  than  in  the  Saracen.  And  his  other  common  House- 
hold is  without  Number,  and  they  have  all  Necessaries  and 
all  that  they  need  from  the  Emperor's  Court.     And  he  halh 


ISO  MANDEVILLE 

in  his  Court  many  Barons  as  Servitors,  that  be  Christian  and 
converted  to  good  Faith  by  the  Preaching  of  religious  Chris- 
tian Men  that  dwell  with  him  ;  but  there  be  many  more,  that 
will  not  that  Men  know  that  they  be  Christian. 

This  Emperor  may  spend  as  much  as  he  will  without  Esti- 
mation ;  for  he  spendeth  and  maketh  no  Money  but  of  im- 
printed Leather  or  of  Paper.  And  of  that  Money  some  is  of 
greater  Price  and  some  of  less  Price,  after  the  Diversity  of  his 
Statutes,  And  when  that  Money  hath  run  so  long  that  it 
beginneth  to  waste,  then  Men  bear  it  to  the  Emperor's  Treas- 
ury and  then  they  take  new  Money  for  the  old.  And  that 
Money  goeth  throughout  all  the  Country  and  throughout  all 
his  Provinces,  for  there  and  beyond  them  they  make  no 
Money  either  of  Gold  or  of  Silver ;  and  therefore  he  may 
spend  enough,  and  outrageously.  And  of  Gold  and  Silver 
that  Men  have  in  his  Country  he  maketh  Colours,  Pillars 
and  Pavements  in  his  Palace,  and  other  divers  Things  what 
he  liketh. 

This  Emperor  hath  in  his  Chamber,  in  one  of  the  Pillars 
of  Gold,  a  Ruby  and  a  Carbuncle  of  half  a  Foot  long,  that  in 
the  Night  giveth  so  great  Lustre  and  Shining,  that  it  is  as 
light  as  Day.  And  he  hath  many  other  precious  Stones  and 
many  other  Rubies  and  Carbuncles  ;  but  those  be  the  greatest 
and  the  most  precious. 

This  Emperor  dwelleth  in  Summer  in  a  City  that  is  toward 
the  North  that  is  clept  Saduz  ;  and  there  it  is  cold  enough. 
And  in  the  Winter  he  dwelleth  in  a  City  that  is  clept  Cama- 
aleche,  and  that  is  in  an  hot  Country.  But  the  Country, 
where  he  dwelleth  in  most  commonly,  is  in  Gaydo  or  in  Jong, 
that  is  a  good  Country  and  a  temperate,  going  by  what  the 
Country  is  there ;  but  to  Men  of  this  Country  it  were  pass- 
ing hot. 

And  when  this  Emperor  will  ride  from  one  Country  to 
another  he  ordaineth  4  Hosts  of  his  Folk,  of  the  which  the 
first  Host  goeth  before  him  a  Day's  Journey.  For  that  Host 
shall  be  lodged  the  Night  where  the  Emperor  shall  lie  upon 
the  Morrow.  And  there  shall  every  Man  have  all  Manner 
of  Victual  and  Necessaries  that  be  needful,  at  the  Emperor's 
Costs.  And  in  this  first  Host  the  Number  of  People  is  50 
Curaants,   either  of  Horse  or  of  Foot,  of  the  which  every 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  151 

Cumant  amounts  to  10,000,  as  I  have  told  you  before.  And 
another  Host  goeth  on  the  right  Side  of  the  Emperor,  nigh 
half  a  Day's  Journey  from  him.  And  another  goeth  on  the 
left  Side  of  him,  in  the  same  Wise.  And  in  every  Host  is 
as  much  Multitude  of  People  as  in  the  first  Host.  And  then 
after  cometh  the  4th  Host,  that  is  much  more  than  any  of 
the  others,  and  that  goeth  behind  him,  the  Amount  of  a  Bow's 
Draw.  And  every  Host  hath  its  Journey  ordained  to  certain 
Places,  where  they  shall  be  lodged  at  Night,  and  there  shall 
they  have  all  that  they  need.  And  if  it  befall  that  any  one 
of  the  Host  die,  anon  they  put  another  in  his  Place,  so  that 
the  Number  shall  evermore  be  complete. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  the  Emperor,  in  his  own 
Person,  rideth  not  as  other  great  Lords  do  beyond,  but  if  he 
list  to  go  privily  with  few  Men,  to  be  unknown.  Else,  he 
rides  in  a  Chariot  with  4  Wheels,  upon  the  which  is  made  a 
fair  Chamber,  and  it  is  made  of  a  certain  Wood,  that  cometh 
out  of  Terrestrial  Paradise,  that  Men  call  Lignum  Aloes,  that 
the  Rivers  of  Paradise  bring  out  at  divers  Seasons,  as  I  have 
told  you  here  before.  And  this  Chamber  is  full  well  smelling 
because  of  the  Wood  that  it  is  made  of.  And  all  this  Cham- 
ber is  covered  within  with  Plates  of  fine  Gold  dubbed  with 
precious  Stones  and  great  Pearls.  And  4  Elephants  and  4 
great  Dromedaries,  all  white  and  covered  with  rich  Coverlets, 
go  leading  the  Chariot.  And  4  or  5  or  6  of  the  greatest 
Lords  ride  about  this  Chariot,  full  richly  arrayed  and  full 
nobly,  so  that  no  Man  shall  draw  nigh  the  Chariot,  but  only 
those  Lords,  unless  that  the  Emperor  call  any  Man  to  him 
that  he  list  to  speak  withal.  And  above  the  Chamber  of  this 
Chariot  that  the  Emperor  sitteth  in  be  set  upon  a  Perch  4  or 
5  or  6  Gerfalcons,  to  that  Intent,  that  when  the  Emperor 
seeth  any  Wild  Fowl,  he  may  take  them  at  his  own  List,  and 
have  the  Sport  and  the  Play  of  the  Flight,  first  with  one,  and 
after  with  another ;  and  so  he  taketh  his  Sport  passing  by  the 
Country.  And  no  Man  rideth  before  him  of  his  Company, 
but  all  after  him.  And  no  Man  dare  come  nigh  the  Chariot, 
by  a  Bow's  Draw,  but  those  Lords  only  that  be  about  him. 
And  all  the  Host  cometh  fairly  after  him  in  a  great  Multitude. 

And  also  such  another  Chariot  with  such  Hosts  ordained 
and  arrayed  go  with  the  Empress  upon  another  Way,  every 


152  MANDEVILLE 

one  by  itself,  with  4  Hosts,  right  as  the  Emperor  did  ;  but 
not  with  so  great  Multitude  of  People.  And  his  eldest  Son 
goeth  by  another  Way  in  another  Chariot,  in  the  same  Man- 
ner. So  that  there  is  between  them  so  great  Multitude  of 
Folk  that  it  is  marvellous  to  tell  it.  And  no  Man  should 
believe  the  Number,  but  he  had  seen  it.  And  sometime  it 
haps  that  when  he  will  not  go  far,  and  that  it  liketh  him  to 
have  the  Empress  and  his  Children  with  him,  then  they  go 
altogether,  and  their  Folk  be  all  mingled  in  company,  and 
divided  in  4  Parties  only. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  the  Empire  of  this  great 
Chan  is  divided  in  12  Provinces;  and  every  Province  hath 
more  than  2000  Cities,  and  Towns  without  Number.  This 
County  is  full  great,  for  it  hath  12  principal  Kings  in  12 
Provinces,  and  every  one  of  those  Kings  have  many  Kings 
under  them,  and  they  all  be  obeissant  to  the  great  Chan. 
And  his  Land  and  his  Lordship  endureth  so  far,  that  a  Man 
may  not  go  from  one  End  to  another,  neither  by  Sea  nor 
Land,  in  the  Space  of  7  Year.  And  through  the  Deserts  of 
his  Lordship,  there  where  Men  may  find  no  Towns,  there  be 
Inns  ordained  by  every  Day's  Journey,  to  receive  both  Man 
and  Horse,  in  the  which  they  shall  find  Plenty  of  Victual, 
and  of  all  Things  that  they  need  to  go  by  the  Country. 

And  there  is  a  marvellous  Custom  in  that  Country,  but  it 
is  profitable,  that  if  there  be  any  contrarious  Thing  that 
should  be  Prejudice  or  Grievance  to  the  Emperor  in  any 
kind,  anon  the  Emperor  hath  Tidings  thereof  and  full  Knowl- 
edge in  a  Day,  though  it  be  3  or  4  Days'  Journeys  from  him 
or  more.  For  his  Ambassadors  take  their  Dromedaries  or 
their  Horses,  and  they  spur  all  that  ever  they  may  toward 
one  of  the  Inns.  And  when  they  come  there,  anon  they  blow 
an  Horn.  And  anon  they  of  the  Inn  know  well  enough  that 
there  be  Tidings  to  warn  the  Emperor  of  some  Rebellion 
against  him.  And  then  anon  they  make  other  Men  ready, 
in  all  Haste  that  they  may,  to  bear  Letters,  and  spur  all  that 
ever  they  may,  till  they  come  to  the  other  Inns  with  their 
Letters.  And  then  they  make  fresh  Men  ready,  to  spur  forth 
with  the  Letters  toward  the  Emperor,  while  that  the  last 
Bringer  rests  him,  and  baits  his  Dromedary  or  his  Horse. 
And  so,  from  Inn  to  Inn,  till  it  come  to  the  Emperor.     And 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  153 

thus  anon  hath  he  hasty  Tidings  of  anything  that  bcareth 
Weight,  by  his  Couriers,  that  run  so  hastily  throughout  all 
the  Country.  And  also  when  the  Emperor  sendeth  his  Cou- 
riers hastily  throughout  his  Land,  every  one  of  them  hath  a 
large  Thong  full  of  small  Bells,  and  when  they  draw  nigh 
near  to  the  Inns  of  other  Couriers  that  be  also  ordained  for 
the  Journeys,  they  ring  their  Bells,  and  anon  the  other  Cou- 
riers make  them  ready,  and  run  their  Way  unto  another  Inn. 
And  thus  runneth  one  to  the  other,  full  speedily  and  swiftly, 
till  the  Emperor's  Intent  be  served,  in  all  Haste.  And  these 
Couriers  be  clept  "  Chydydo,"  after  their  Language,  that  is 
to  say,  a  Messenger. 

Also  when  the  Emperor  goeth  from  one  Country  to  another, 
as  I  have  told  you  here  before,  and  he  passeth  through  Cities 
and  Towns,  every  Man  maketh  a  Fire  before  his  Door,  and 
putteth  therein  Powder  of  good  Gums  that  be  sweet  smelling, 
to  make  good  Savour  to  the  Emperor.  And  all  the  People 
kneel  down  over  against  him,  and  do  him  great  Reverence. 
And  there,  where  religious  Christian  Men  dwell,  as  they  do 
in  many  Cities  in  their  Land,  they  go  before  him  in  Proces- 
sion with  Cross  and  Holy  Water,  and  they  sing  "  Veni  Creator 
Spiritus  ! "  with  an  high  Voice,  and  go  towards  him.  And 
when  he  heareth  them,  he  commandeth  to  his  Lords  to  ride 
beside  him,  that  the  religious  Men  may  come  to  him.  And 
when  they  be  nigh  him  with  the  Cross,  then  he  putteth  down 
his  Galiot  (or  Head-piece)  that  sits  on  his  Head  in  manner 
of  a  Chaplet,  that  is  made  of  Gold  and  precious  Stones  and 
great  Pearls,  and  is  so  rich,  that  Men  prize  it  at  the  Value  of 
a  Realm  in  that  Country.  And  then  he  kneeleth  to  the 
Cross.  And  then  the  Prelate  of  the  religious  Men  saith 
before  him  certain  Orisons,  and  giveth  him  a  Blessing  with 
the  Cross  ;  and  he  inclineth  to  the  Blessing  full  devoutly. 
And  then  the  Prelate  giveth  him  some  manner  of  Fruit,  to  the 
number  of  9,  in  a  Platter  of  Silver,  with  Pears  or  Apples,  or 
other  manner  of  Fruit.  And  he  taketh  one.  And  then  Men 
give  to  the  other  Lords  that  be  about  him.  For  the  Custom 
is  such,  that  no  Stranger  shall  come  before  him,  but  if  he  give 
him  some  manner  of  Thing,  after  the  old  Law  that  saith, 
"  Nemo  accedat  in  Conspectu  meo  vacuus  "  ("  None  comcth 
into  my  Sight  empty").     And  then  the  Emperor  saith  to  the 


154  MANDEVILLE 

religious  Men,  that  they  shall  withdraw  them  again,  that  they 
be  neither  hurt  nor  harmed  of  the  great  Multitude  of  Horses 
that  come  behind  him.  And  also,  in  the  same  Manner,  do 
the  religious  Men  that  dwell  there,  to  the  Empresses  that 
pass  by  them,  and  to  his  eldest  Son.  And  to  every  one  of 
them  they  present  Fruit. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  the  People  that  he  hath  so 
many  Hosts  of,  about  him  and  about  his  Wives  and  his  Son, 
they  dwell  not  continually  with  him.  But  always,  when  it 
liketh  him,  they  be  sent  for.  And  after,  when  they  have 
done,  they  return  to  their  own  Households,  save  only  they 
that  be  dwelling  with  him  in  his  Household  to  serve  him 
and  his  Wives  and  his  Sons  to  govern  his  Household.  And 
albeit,  that  the  others  be  departed  from  him  after  that  they 
have  performed  their  Service,  yet  there  abideth  continually 
with  him  in  Court  50,000  Men  at  Horse  and  200,000  Men 
at  Foot,  besides  Minstrels  and  those  that  keep  Wild  Beasts 
and  divers  Birds,  of  the  which  I  have  told  you  the  Number 
before. 

Under  the  Firmament  is  not  so  great  a  Lord,  nor  so 
mighty,  nor  so  rich  as  the  great  Chan ;  neither  Prester  John, 
that  is  Emperor  of  the  High  Ind,  nor  the  Sultan  of  Babylon, 
nor  the  Emperor  of  Persia.  All  these  be  not  in  Comparison 
to  the  great  Chan,  neither  of  Might,  nor  of  Noblesse,  nor 
of  Royalty,  nor  of  Riches,  for  in  all  these  he  passeth  all 
earthly  Princes.  Wherefore  it  is  great  Harm  that  he  be- 
lieveth  not  faithfully  in  God.  And  nevertheless  he  will 
gladly  hear  speak  of  God,  And  he  suffereth  well  that 
Christian  Men  dwell  in  his  Lordship,  and  that  Men  of  his 
Faith  be  made  Christian  Men  if  they  will,  throughout  all 
his  Country ;  for  he  forbiddeth  no  Man  to  hold  any  Law 
other  than  it  liketh  him. 

In  that  Country  some  Men  have  an  100  Wives,  some  60, 
some  more,  some  less.  And  they  take  the  next  of  their 
Kin  to  be  their  Wives,  save  only  that  they  take  not  their 
Mothers,  their  Daughters,  and  their  Sisters  on  the  Mother's 
Side ;  but  their  Sisters  on  the  Father's  side  by  another 
Woman  they  may  well  take,  and  their  Brothers'  Wives  also 
after  their  Death,  and  their  Step-mothers  also  in  the  same 
Wise. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

Of  the  Laiv  and  the  Customs  of  the  Tartars  divelling  in 
Cathay.  And  hoiv  that  Mefi  do  when  the  Emperor  shall 
die,  and  how  he  shall  be  chosen 

THE  Folk  of  that  Country  all  use  long  Clothes  without 
Furs.  And  they  be  clothed  with  precious  Cloths  of 
Tartary,  and  of  Cloths  of  Gold.  And  their  Clothes 
be  slit  at  the  Side,  and  they  be  festooned  with  Laces  of 
Silk.  And  they  clothe  them  also  with  Pilches/  the  Hide 
without ;  and  they  use  neither  Cape  nor  Hood.  And  in  the 
same  Manner  as  the  Men  go,  the  Women  go,  so  that  no  Man 
may  scarcely  know  the  Men  from  the  Women,  save  only 
those  Women  that  be  married,  that  bear  the  Token  upon 
their  Heads  of  a  Man's  Foot,  in  Sign  that  they  be  under 
Man's  Foot  and  under  Subjection  of  Man. 

And  their  Wives  dwell  not  together,  but  every  one  of  them 
by  herself ;  and  the  Husband  may  lie  with  whom  of  them  that 
it  liketh  him.  Every  one  hath  his  House,  both  Man  and 
Woman.  And  their  Houses  be  made  round  with  Staves,  and 
they  have  a  round  Window  above  that  giveth  them  Light, 
and  also  serveth  for  Deliverance  of  Smoke.  And  the  Cover- 
ings of  their  Houses  and  the  Walls  and  the  Doors  be  all  of 
Wood.  And  when  they  go  to  War,  they  take  their  Houses 
with  them  upon  Chariots,  as  Men  do  Tents  or  Pavilions. 
And  they  make  their  Fire  in  the  Midst  of  their  Houses. 

And  they  have  great  Multitude  of  all  manner  of  Beasts, 
save  only  of  Swine,  for  these  they  do  not  breed.  And  they 
believe  well  in  one  God  that  made  and  formed  all  Things. 
And  yet  nevertheless  have  they  Idols  of  Gold  and  Silver, 
and  of  Wood  and  of  Cloth.  And  to  their  Idols  they  offer 
always  their  first  Milk  of  their  Beasts,  and  also  of  their  Meats 
and  of  their  Drinks  before  they  eat.  And  they  offer  often- 
^  A  winter  garment  of  skins  of  fur. 
'55 


156  MANDEVILLE 

times  Horses  and  Beasts.  And  they  call  the  God  of  Nature, 
"  Yroga." 

And  their  Emperor  also,  whatever  Name  that  ever  he  have, 
they  put  evermore  thereto,  Chan.  And  when  I  was  there, 
their  Emperor  had  to  Name  Thiaut,  so  that  he  was  clept 
Thiaut-Chan.  And  his  eldest  Son  was  clept  Tossue ;  and 
when  he  shall  be  Emperor,  he  shall  be  clept  Tossue-Chan. 
And  at  that  Time  the  Emperor  had  12  other  Sons  also,  that 
were  named  Cuncy,  Ordii,  Chadahay,  Buryn,  Negu,  Nocab, 
Cadu,  Siban,  Cuten,  Balacy,  Babylan,  and  Garegan.  And 
of  his  3  Wives,  the  first  and  principal,  that  was  Prester 
John's  Daughter,  had  to  Name  Serioche-Chan,  and  the 
tother  Borak-Chan,  and  the  tother  Karanke-Chan. 

The  Folk  of  that  Country  begin  all  their  Things  in  the 
new  Moon,  and  they  worship  much  the  Moon  and  the  Sun 
and  often-time  kneel  to  them.  And  all  the  Folk  of  the  Coun- 
try ride  commonly  without  Spurs,  but  they  bear  always  a 
little  Whip  in  their  Hands  to  urge  their  Horses  with. 

And  they  have  great  Conscience  and  hold  it  for  a  great 
Sin  to  cast  a  Knife  in  the  Fire,  and  to  draw  Flesh  out  of  a 
Pot  with  a  Knife,  and  to  smite  an  Horse  with  the  Handle  of 
a  Whip,  or  to  smite  an  Horse  with  a  Bridle,  or  to  break  one 
Bone  with  another,  or  to  cast  Milk  or  any  Liquor  that  Men 
may  drink  upon  the  Earth,  or  to  take  and  slay  little  Children. 
And  the  most  great  Sin  that  any  Man  may  do  is  to  defile 
their  own  Houses  that  they  dwell  in,  and  whoso  that  may  be 
found  with  that  Sin  surely  they  slay  him.  And  of  every  one 
of  those  Sins  it  behoveth  them  to  be  shriven  of  their  Priests, 
and  to  pay  a  great  Sum  of  Silver  for  their  Penance.  And 
it  behoveth  also,  that  the  Place  that  Men  have  defiled  be  hal- 
lowed again,  and  else  dare  no  Man  enter  therein.  And  when 
they  have  paid  their  Penance,  Men  make  them  pass  through 
a  Fire  or  through  2,  to  cleanse  them  of  their  Sins.  And  also 
when  any  Messenger  cometh  and  bringeth  Letters  or  any 
Present  to  the  Emperor,  it  behoveth  him  that  he,  with  the 
Thing  he  bringeth,  pass  through  2  burning  Fires  to  purge 
them,  that  he  bring  no  Poison  nor  Venom,  nor  no  wicked 
Thing  that  might  be  a  Grievance  to  their  Lord.  And  also  if 
any  Man  or  Woman  be  taken  in  Adultery  or  Fornication, 
anon  they  slay  him. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  15/ 

Men  of  that  Country  be  all  good  Archers  and  shoot  right 
well,  both  Men  and  Women,  as  well  on  Horse-back,  spurring, 
as  on  Foot,  running.  And  the  Women  make  all  Things  and 
all  manner  of  Trades  and  Crafts,  as  of  Clothes,  Boots  and 
other  Things ;  and  they  drive  Carts,  Ploughs  and  Wains 
and  Chariots ;  and  they  make  Houses  and  all  manner  of 
Trades,  except  Bows  and  Arrows  and  Armours  that  Men 
make.     And  all  the  Women  wear  Breeches,  as  well  as  Men. 

All  the  Folk  of  that  Country  be  full  obeissant  to  their 
Sovereign ;  neither  fight  they  nor  chide  one  with  another. 
And  there  be  neither  Thieves  nor  Robbers  in  that  Country. 
And  every  Man  is  worshipful  to  the  other ;  but  no  Man  doth 
any  Reverence  to  any  Strangers,  but  if  they  be  great  Princes. 

And  they  eat  Hounds,  Lions,  Leopards,  Mares  and  Foals, 
Asses,  Rats  and  Mice  and  all  manner  of  Beasts,  great  and 
small,  save  only  Swine  and  Beasts  that  were  forbidden  by 
the  old  Law.  And  they  eat  all  the  Beasts  without  and 
within,  without  casting  away  of  anything,  save  only  the 
Filth.  And  they  eat  but  little  Bread,  but  if  it  be  in  Courts 
of  great  Lords.  And  they  have  not  in  many  Places,  either 
Pease  or  Beans  or  any  other  Pottages  but  the  Broth  of  the 
Flesh.  For  little  eat  they  of  anything  but  Flesh  and  the 
Broth.  And  when  they  have  eaten,  they  wipe  then  their 
Hands  upon  their  Skirts  ;  for  they  use  no  Napery  or  Towels, 
but  if  it  be  before  great  Lords  ;  but  the  common  People  have 
none.  And  when  they  have  eaten,  they  put  their  Dishes 
unwashen  into  the  Pot  or  Cauldron  with  the  Remnant  of  the 
Flesh  and  of  the  Broth  till  they  will  eat  again.  And  the  rich 
Men  drink  Milk  of  Mares  or  of  Camels  or  of  Asses  or  of 
other  Beasts.  And  they  will  be  lightly  made  drunk  with 
Milk  or  with  another  Drink  that  is  made  of  Honey  and 
Water  boiled  together ;  for  in  that  Country  is  neither  Wine 
nor  Ale.  They  live  full  wretchedly,  and  they  eat  but  once 
in  the  Day,  and  that  but  little,  either  in  Courts  or  in  other 
Places.  And  in  Sooth,  one  Man  alone  in  this  Country  will 
eat  more  in  a  Day  than  one  of  them  will  eat  in  3  Days.  And 
if  any  strange  Messenger  come  there  to  a  Lord,  Men  make 
him  to  eat  but  once  a  Day,  and  that  full  little. 

And  when  they  war,  they  war  full  wisely  and  always  do 
their  Business,  so  as  to  destroy  their  Enemies.     Every  Man 


158  MANDEVILLE 

there  beareth  2  Bows  or  3,  and  of  Arrows  a  great  Plenty, 
and  a  great  Axe.  And  the  Gentlefolk  have  short  Spears 
and  large  and  full  sharp  on  the  one  Side.  And  they  have 
Plates  and  Helmets  made  of  Cuir-bouilli,  and  their  Horses 
Coverlets  of  the  same.  And  whoso  fleeth  from  the  Battle 
they  slay  him.  And  when  they  hold  any  Siege  about  Castle 
or  Town  that  is  walled  or  defensible,  they  promise  to  them 
that  be  within  to  do  all  the  Profit  and  Good,  that  it  is  mar- 
vellous to  hear ;  and  they  grant  also  to  them  that  be  within 
all  that  they  will  ask  them.  And  after  that  they  be  yielden, 
anon  they  slay  them  all ;  and  they  cut  off  their  Ears  and 
souse  them  in  Vinegar,  and  thereof  they  make  great  Service 
for  Lords.  All  their  Lust  and  all  their  Imagination  is  to 
put  all  Lands  under  their  Subjection.  And  they  say  that 
they  know  well  by  their  Prophecies,  that  they  shall  be  over- 
come by  Archers  and  by  Strength  of  them ;  but  they  know 
not  of  what  Nation  nor  of  what  Law  they  shall  be  of,  that 
shall  overcome  them.  And  therefore  they  suffer  that  Folk 
of  all  Laws  may  peaceably  dwell  amongst  them. 

Also  when  they  will  make  their  Idols  or  an  Image  of  any 
of  their  Friends  to  have  Remembrance  of  him,  they  make 
always  the  Image  all  naked  without  any  manner  of  Clothing. 
For  they  say  that  in  good  Love  should  be  no  Covering,  that 
Man  should  not  love  for  the  fair  Clothing  nor  for  the  rich 
Array,  but  only  for  the  Body,  such  as  God  hath  made  it,  and 
for  the  good  Virtues  that  the  Body  is  endowed  with  of  Nat- 
ure, and  not  only  for  fair  Clothing  that  is  not  natural  to  Nature. 

And  ye  shall  understand  that  it  is  great  Dread  to  pursue 
the  Tartars  if  they  flee  in  Battle.  For  in  fleeing  they  shoot 
behind  them  and  slay  both  Men  and  Horses.  And  when 
they  will  fight  they  will  rush  together  in  a  Clump ;  so  that 
if  there  be  20,000  Men,  Men  shall  not  think  that  there  be  a 
scant  10,000.  And  they  can  well  win  Land  of  Strangers, 
but  they  cannot  keep  it ;  for  they  have  greater  Lust  to  lie  in 
Tents  without  than  to  lie  in  Castles  or  in  Towns.  And  they 
prize  as  nothing  the  Wit  of  other  Nations. 

And  amongst  them  Oil  of  Olive  is  full  dear,  for  they  hold 
it  for  full  noble  Medicine.  And  all  the  Tartars  have  small 
Eyes  and  little  of  Beard,  and  be  not  thick  haired  but  shaved. 
And  they  be  false  and  Traitors  ;  and  they  keep  nought  that 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 59 

they  promise.  They  be  full  hardy  Folk,  and  much  Pain  and 
Woe  and  Disease  may  suffer,  more  than  any  other  Folk,  for 
they  be  taught  thereto  in  their  own  Country  from  Youth. 
And  therefore  they  are  spent  or  enfeebled,  as  one  m.ay  say, 
but  little. 

And  when  any  Man  shall  die,  Men  set  a  Spear  beside  him. 
And  when  he  draweth  towards  Death,  every  Man  fleeth  out 
of  the  House  till  he  be  dead.  And  after  that  they  bury  him 
in  the  Fields. 

And  when  the  Emperor  dieth,  Men  set  him  in  a  Chair  in 
the  mid  Place  of  his  Tent.  And  Men  set  a  Table  before  him 
cleanly  covered  with  a  Cloth,  and  thereupon  Flesh  and  divers 
Viands  and  a  Cup  full  of  Mare's  Milk.  And  Men  put  a  Mare 
beside  him  with  her  Foal,  and  an  Horse  saddled  and  bridled. 
And  they  lay  upon  the  Horse  Gold  and  Silver,  great  Quantity. 
And  they  put  about  him  great  Plenty  of  Straw.  And  then 
Men  make  a  great  Pit  and  a  large,  and  with  the  Tent  and  all 
these  other  Things  they  put  him  in  the  Earth.  And  they 
say  that  when  he  shall  come  into  another  World,  he  shall  not 
be  without  an  House,  nor  without  Horse,  nor  without  Gold 
and  Silver ;  and  the  Mare  shall  give  him  Milk,  and  bring  him 
forth  more  Horses  till  he  be  well  stored  in  the  other  World. 
For  they  believe  that  after  their  Death  they  shall  be  eating 
and  drinking  in  that  other  World,  and  solacing  them  with 
their  Wives,  as  they  did  here. 

And  after  the  Time  that  the  Emperor  is  thus  interred  no 
Man  shall  be  so  hardy  to  speak  of  him  before  his  Friends. 
And  yet  nevertheless  it  befalleth  many  times  that  they  make 
him  to  be  interred  privily  by  Night  in  wild  Places,  and  put 
again  the  Grass  over  the  Pit  to  grow ;  or  else  Men  cover  the 
Pit  with  Gravel  and  Sand,  that  no  Man  shall  perceive  where 
nor  know  where  the  Pit  is,  to  that  Intent  that  ever  after  none 
of  his  Friends  shall  have  Mind  or  Remembrance  of  him. 
And  then  they  say  that  he  is  ravished  to  another  World, 
where  he  is  a  greater  Lord  than  he  was  here. 

And  then,  after  the  Death  of  the  Emperor,  the  7  Lineages 
assemble  them  together,  and  choose  his  eldest  Son,  or  the 
next  after  him  of  his  Blood.  And  thus  they  say  to  him  : 
"We  will  and  we  pray  and  ordain  that  ye  be  our  Lord  and 
our  Emperor !  " 


l6o  MANDEVILLE 

And  then  he  answereth  :  "  If  ye  will  that  I  reign  over  you 
as  Lord,  do  every  one  of  you  that  I  shall  command  him,  either 
to  abide  or  to  go  ;  and  whomsoever  that  I  command  to  be 
slain,  anon  be  he  slain  !  " 

And  they  answer  all  with  one  Voice  :  "  Whatsoever  ye  com- 
mand, it  shall  be  done  !  " 

Then  saith  the  Emperor :  "  Now  understand  well,  that  my 
Word  from  henceforth  is  sharp  and  biting  as  a  Sword  !  " 

After,  Men  set  him  upon  a  black  Steed  and  so  Men  bring 
him  to  a  Chair  full  richly  arrayed,  and  there  they  crown  him. 
And  then  all  the  Cities  and  good  Towns  send  him  rich  Pres- 
ents. So  that,  on  that  Day,  he  shall  have  more  than  60 
Chariots  charged  with  Gold  and  Silver,  besides  Jewels  of  Gold 
and  precious  Stones,  that  Lords  give  him,  that  be  without 
Estimation,  and  besides  Horses,  and  Cloths  of  Gold,  and 
of  Camakas  (Silks)  and  Tartarins  (Silks)  that  be  without 
Number. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

Of  the  Realm  of  Thurse  and  the  Lands  and  Kingdoms  to7vards  the 
Septentrional  or  Northern  Parts,  in  coming  down  from  the  Land 

of  Cathay 

THIS  Land  of  Cathay  is  in  Asia  the  Deep  ;  and  after, 
on  this  Side,  is  Asia  the  More.  The  Kingdom  of 
Cathay  marcheth  toward  the  West  with  the  Kingdom 
of  Thurse,  of  the  which  was  one  of  the  Kings  that  came  to 
give  Presents  to  our  Lord  in  Bethlehem.  And  they  that 
be  of  the  Lineage  of  that  King  are,  some  of  them,  Christian. 
In  Thurse  they  eat  no  Flesh,  neither  drink  they  any  Wine. 

And  on  this  Side,  toward  the  West,  is  the  Kingdom  of 
Turkestan,  that  stretcheth  toward  the  West  to  the  Kingdom 
of  Persia,  and  toward  the  Septentrional  or  North  to  the  King- 
dom of  Khorasan.  In  the  Country  of  Turkestan  be  but  few 
good  Cities ;  but  the  best  City  of  that  Land  is  hight  Octorar. 
There  be  great  Pastures,  but  little  Corn  ;  and  therefore,  for 
the  most  Part,  they  be  all  Herdsmen,  and  they  lie  in  Tents 
and  they  drink  a  manner  of  Ale  made  of  Honey. 

And  after,  on  this  Side,  is  the  Kingdom  of  Khorasan, 
that  is  a  good  Land  and  a  plenteous,  without  Wine.  And 
it  hath  a  Desert  toward  the  East  that  lasteth  more  than  an 
lOO  Days'  Journey.  And  the  best  City  of  that  Country  is 
clept  Khorasan,  and  from  that  City  the  Country  beareth  his 
Name.     The  Folk  of  that  Country  be  hardy  Warriors. 

And  on  this  Side  is  the  Kingdom  of  Comania,  wherefrom 
the  Comanians  that  dwelled  in  Greece  some-time  were  chased 
out.  This  is  one  of  the  greatest  Kingdoms  of  the  World, 
but  it  is  not  all  inhabited.  For  at  one  of  the  Parts  there  is 
so  great  Cold  that  no  Man  may  dwell  there;  and  in  another 
Part  there  is  so  great  Heat  that  no  Man  may  endure  it,  and 
also  there  be  so  many  Flies,  that  no  Man  may  know  on  what 
Side  he  may  turn  him.  In  that  Country  is  but  little  Wood 
or  Trees  that  bear  Fruit  or  others.     They  lie  in  Tents ;  and 

12  i6i 


l62  MANDEVILLE 

they  burn  the  Dung  of  Beasts  for  Default  of  Wood.  This 
Kinofdom  descendeth  on  this  Side  toward  us  and  toward 
Prussia  and  toward  Russia. 

And  through  that  Country  runneth  the  River  of  Ethille 
that  is  one  of  the  greatest  Rivers  of  the  World.  And  it 
freezeth  so  strongly  every  Year,  that  many  times  Men  have 
fought  upon  the  Ice  with  great  Hosts,  both  Parties  on  Foot, 
and  their  Horses  quitted  for  the  Time,  and  what  with  those 
on  Horse  and  on  Foot,  more  than  2CX),ooo  Persons  on  each 
Side. 

And  between  that  River  and  the  great  Sea  Ocean,  that 
they  call  the  Sea  Maure,  lie  all  these  Realms.  And  toward 
the  Head,  beneath,  in  that  Realm  is  the  Mount  Chotaz,  that 
is  the  highest  Mount  of  the  World,  and  it  is  between  the  Sea 
Maure  and  the  Sea  Caspian.  There  is  a  full  strait  and 
dangerous  Passage  to  go  toward  Ind.  And  therefore  King 
Alexander  made  there  a  strong  City,  that  Men  call  Alexandria, 
to  guard  the  Country  that  no  Man  should  pass  without  his 
Leave.     And  now  Men  call  that  City,  the  Gate  of  Hell. 

And  the  principal  City  of  Comania  is  clept  Sarak,  that  is 
on  one  of  the  3  Ways  to  go  into  Ind.  But  by  this  Way,  may 
not  pass  any  great  Multitude  of  People,  but  if  it  be  in  Winter. 
And  that  Passage  Men  call  the  Derbent.  The  tother  Way 
is  to  go  from  the  City  of  Turkestan  by  Persia,  and  by  that 
Way  be  many  Days'  Journey  by  Desert.  And  the  3rd  Way 
is  that  which  cometh  from  Comania  and  then  goes  by  the 
great  Sea  and  by  the  Kingdom  of  Abchaz. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  all  these  Kingdoms  and  all 
these  Lands  above-said  unto  Prussia  and  to  Russia  be  all 
obeissant  to  the  great  Chan  of  Cathay,  and  many  other  Coun- 
tries that  march  with  other  Borders.  Wherefore  his  Power 
and  his  Lordship  is  full  great  and  full  mighty. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

Of  the  Emperor  of  Persia,  and  of  the  Land  of  Darkness  ;  and  of 
other  Kingdoms  that  belong  to  the  great  Chan  of  Cathay,  and 
other  Lands  of  his,  unto  the  Sea  of  Greece. 

NOW,  since  I  have  advised  you  of  the  Lands  and  the 
Kingdoms  toward  the  Septentrional  or  Northern  Parts, 
in  coming  down  from  the  Land  of  Cathay  unto  the 
Lands  of  the  Christians,  toward  Prussia  and  Russia,  —  now 
shall  I  advise  you  of  other  Lands  and  Kingdoms  coming 
down  by  other  IBorders,  toward  the  right  Side,  unto  the  Sea 
of  Greece,  toward  the  Land  of  Christian  Men.  And,  there- 
fore, as  after  Ind  and  after  Cathay  the  Emperor  of  Persia  is 
the  greatest  Lord, — therefore,  I  shall  tell  you  of  the  King- 
dom of  Persia  first,  where  he  hath  2  Kingdoms. 

The  first  Kingdom  beginneth  toward  the  East,  toward  the 
Kingdom  of  Turkestan,  and  it  stretcheth  toward  the  West 
unto  the  River  of  Pison,  that  is  one  of  the  4  Rivers  that  come 
out  of  Paradise.  And  on  another  Side  it  stretcheth  toward 
the  Septentrion  or  North  unto  the  Sea  of  Caspian  ;  and  also 
toward  the  South  unto  the  Desert  of  Ind.  And  this  Country 
is  good  and  plenteous  and  full  of  People.  And  there  be 
many  good  Cities.  But  the  2  principal  Cities  be  these, 
Bokhara,  and  Seornergant,  that  Men  call  Samarcand.  The 
tother  Kingdom  of  Persia  stretcheth  toward  the  River  of 
Pison  and  the  Parts  of  the  West  unto  the  Kingdom  of  Media, 
and  from  the  Great  Armenia  and  toward  the  Septentrion  to 
the  Sea  of  Caspian  and  toward  the  South  to  the  Land  of  Ind. 
That  is  also  a  good  Land  and  a  plenteous,  and  it  hath  3  great 
principal  Cities  —  Messabor,  Caphon,  and  Sarmassan. 

And  then  after  is  Armenia,  in  the  which  were  wont  to  be 
5  Kingdoms,  that  is  a  noble  Country  and  full  of  Goods. 
And  it  beginneth  at  Persia  and  stretcheth  toward  the  West 
in  Length  unto  Turkey.  And  in  Breadth  it  endureth  to  the 
City  of  Alexandria,  that  now  is  clept  the  Gate  of  Hell,  that 

163 


l64  MANDEVILLE 

I  spake  of  before,  under  the  Kingdom  of  Media.  In  this 
Armenia  be  full  many  good  Cities,  but  Taurizo  (Tabreez)  is 
most  of  Name. 

After  this  is  the  Kingdom  of  Media,  that  is  full  long,  but 
is  not  full  broad,  that  beginneth  toward  the  East  at  the  Land 
of  Persia  and  at  Ind  the  Less ;  and  it  stretcheth  toward  the 
West,  toward  the  Kingdom  of  Chaldea  and  toward  the  Sep- 
tentrion,  descending  toward  the  Little  Armenia.  In  that 
Kingdom  of  Media  there  be  many  great  Hills  and  little  of 
flat  Earth.  There  dwell  Saracens  and  another  manner  of 
Folk,  that  Men  call  Kurds.  The  best  2  Cities  of  that  King- 
dom be  Sarras  and  Karemen. 

After  that  is  the  Kingdom  of  Georgia,  that  beginneth 
toward  the  East,  at  the  great  Mountain  that  is  clept  Abzor, 
where  dwell  many  divers  Folk  of  diverse  Nations.  And 
Men  call  the  Country  Alamo.  This  Kingdom  stretcheth 
him  towards  Turkey  and  toward  the  great  Sea,  and  toward 
the  South  it  marcheth  with  the  Great  Armenia.  And  there 
be  2  Kingdoms  in  that  Country ;  the  one  is  the  Kingdom 
of  Georgia,  and  the  other  is  the  Kingdom  of  Abchaz.  And 
always  in  that  Country  be  2  Kings ;  and  they  be  both 
Christians,  but  the  King  of  Georgia  is  in  Subjection  to  the 
great  Chan.  And  the  King  of  Abchaz  hath  the  more  strong 
Country  and  he  always  vigorously  defendeth  his  Country 
against  all  those  that  assail  him,  so  that  no  Man  may  make 
him  in  Subjection  to  any  Man. 

In  that  Kingdom  of  Abchaz  is  a  great  Marvel.  For  a 
Province  of  the  Country  that  hath  well  in  Circuit  3  Days' 
Journeys,  that  Men  call  Hanyson,  is  all  covered  with  Dark- 
ness, without  any  Brightness  or  Light ;  so  that  no  Man  may 
see  there,  nor  no  Man  dare  enter  into  him.  And,  neverthe- 
less, they  of  the  Country  say,  that  sometimes  Men  hear 
Voices  of  Folk,  and  Horses  neighing,  and  Cocks  crowing. 
And  Men  wit  well,  that  Men  dwell  there,  but  they  know  not 
what  Men.  And  they  say,  that  Darkness  befell  by  Miracle 
of  God.  For  a  cursed  Emperor  of  Persia,  that  was  hight 
Saures,  pursued  all  Christian  Men  to  destroy  them  and  to 
compel  them  to  make  Sacrifice  to  his  Idols,  and  rode  with  a 
great  Host,  in  all  that  ever  he  might,  to  confound  the  Chris- 
tian Men.      And  then  in  that  Country  dwelled  many  good 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  165 

Christian  Men,  the  which  left  their  Goods  and  would  have 
fled  into  Greece.  And  when  they  were  in  a  Plain  that  was 
hight  Megon,  anon  this  cursed  Emperor  met  with  them  with 
his  Host  to  have  slain  them  and  hewn  them  in  Pieces.  And 
anon  the  Christian  Men  kneeled  to  the  Ground,  and  made 
their  Prayers  to  God  to  succour  them.  And  anon  a  thick  Cloud 
came  and  covered  the  Emperor  and  all  his  Host.  And  so  they 
endure  in  that  Manner  that  they  must  not  go  out  any  Side; 
and  so  shall  they  evermore  abide  in  Darkness  till  the  Day  of 
Doom,  by  the  Miracle  of  God.  And  then  the  Christian  Men 
went  where  liked  them  best,  at  their  own  Pleasure,  without 
Hindering  of  any  Creature,  their  Enemies  enclosed  and  con- 
founded in  Darkness  without  any  Stroke. 

Wherefore  we  may  well  say  with  David,  "A  Domino  factum 
est  istud ;  et  est  mirabile  in  Oculis  nostris"  ("This  is  the 
Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  Eyes").  And  that 
was  a  great  Miracle,  that  God  made  for  them.  Wherefore 
methinketh  that  Christian  Men  should  be  more  devout  to 
serve  our  Lord  God  than  any  other  Men  of  any  other  Sect. 
For  without  any  Doubt,  if  there  were  not  Cursedness  and 
Sin  of  Christian  Men,  they  should  be  Lords  of  all  the  World. 
For  the  Banner  of  Jesu  Christ  is  always  displayed,  and  ready 
on  all  Sides  to  the  Help  of  his  true  loving  Servants.  Inso- 
much, that  one  good  Christian  Man  in  good  Belief  should 
overcome  and  chase  out  a  1000  cursed  misbelieving  Men,  as 
David  saith  in  the  Psalter,^  "Quoniam  persequebatur  unus 
mille,  et  duo  fugarent  decern  milia.'"  ("How  should  one 
chase  a  1000,  and  2  put  10,000  to  Flight.?");  and,  "Cadent  a 
latere  tuo  mille,  et  decem  milia  a  dextris  tuis"  ("A  1000 
shall  fall  at  thy  Side,  and  10,000  at  thy  right  Hand").  And 
how  that  it  might  be  that  one  should  chase  a  1000,  David 
himself  saith,  following,  "  Quia  Manus  Domini  fecit  haec 
omnia"  ("For  the  Hand  of  the  Lord  made  all  these 
Things").  So  that  we  may  see  openly  that  if  we  be  good 
Men,  no  Enemy  may  endure  against  us. 

Also  ye  shall  understand  that  out  of  that  Land  of  Darkness 
goeth  out  a  great  River  that  sheweth  well  that  there  be  Folk 
dwelling  there  by  many  ready  Tokens  ;  but  no  Man  dare  enter 
into  it. 

'  An  error.      Vide  Deut.  xxxii.  30. 


l66  MANDEVILLE 

And  wit  well,  that  in  the  Kingdoms  of  Georgia,  of  Abchaz 
and  of  the  Little  Armenia  be  good  Christian  Men  and  devout. 
For  they  shrive  them  and  housel  them  (take  the  Sacrament) 
evermore  once  or  twice  in  the  Week.  And  there  be  many  of 
them  that  housel  them  every  Day ;  and  so  do  we  not  on  this 
Side,  albeit  that  Saint  Paul  commandeth  it,i  saying,  "Omni- 
bus Diebus  Dominicis  ad  Communicandum  hortor"  ("Every 
Lord's  Day  I  exhort  you  to  communicate  ").  They  keep  that 
Commandment,  but  we  keep  it  not. 

And  after,  on  this  Side,  is  Turkey,  that  marcheth  with  the 
Great  Armenia.  And  there  be  many  Provinces,  as  Cappa- 
docia,  Saure,  Brique,  Quesiton,  Pytan  and  Gemethe.  And  in 
every  one  of  these  be  good  Cities.  This  Turkey  stretcheth 
unto  the  City  of  Sathala  that  sitteth  upon  the  Sea  of  Greece, 
and  so  it  marcheth  with  Syria.  Syria  is  a  great  Country  and 
a  good,  as  I  have  told  you  before.  And  also  it  hath,  above 
toward  Ind,  the  Kingdom  of  Chaldea,  that  stretcheth  from 
the  Mountains  of  Chaldea  toward  the  East  unto  the  City  of 
Nineveh,  that  sitteth  upon  the  River  of  Tigris ;  and  in  Breadth 
it  beginneth  toward  the  North  to  the  City  of  Maraga ;  and  it 
stretcheth  toward  the  South  unto  the  Sea  Ocean.  In  Chaldea 
it  is  a  flat  Country,  and  few  Hills  and  few  Rivers. 

After  is  the  Kingdom  of  Mesopotamia,  that  beginneth, 
toward  the  East,  at  the  River  Tigris,  at  a  City  that  is  clept 
Mosul ;  and  it  stretcheth  toward  the  West  to  the  River  of 
Euphrates  unto  a  City  that  is  clept  Roianz ;  and  in  Length 
it  goeth  from  the  Mount  of  Armenia  unto  the  Desert  of  Ind 
the  Less.  This  is  a  good  Country  and  a  flat,  but  it  hath  few 
Rivers.  It  hath  but  2  Mountains  in  that  Country,  of  the 
which  one  is  called  Symar  and  the  other  Lyson.  And  this 
Land  marcheth  with  the  Kingdom  of  Chaldea. 

Also,  there  be,  toward  the  Meridional  or  Southern  Parts, 
many  Countries  and  many  Regions,  as  the  Land  of  Ethiopia, 
that  marcheth,  toward  the  East  with  the  great  Deserts, 
toward  the  South  with  the  Kingdom  of  Mauritania,  and 
toward  the  North  with  the  Red  Sea. 

After  is  Mauritania,  that  endureth  from  the  Mountains  of 
Ethiopia  unto  Lybia  the  High.  And  that  Country  lieth  along 
from  the  Sea  Ocean  toward  the  South  ;  and  toward  the  North 
1  Not  from  St.  Paul. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  167 

it  marcheth  with  Nubia  and  with  the  High  Lybia,  and  the 
Men  of  Nubia  be  Christian ;  and  it  marcheth  from  the  Lands 
above-said  with  the  Deserts  of  Egypt,  and  that  is  the  Egypt 
that  I  have  spoken  of  before. 

And  after  is  Lybia  the  High  and  Lybia  the  Low  that  de- 
scendeth  down  low  toward  the  great  Sea  of  Spain,  in  the 
which  Country  be  many  Kingdoms  and  many  divers  Folk. 

Now  I  have  advised  you  of  many  Countries  on  this  Side 
the  Kingdom  of  Cathay,  of  the  which  many  be  obeissant  to 
the  great  Chan. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

Of  the  Countries  and  Isles  that  be  beyond  the  Land  of  Cathay  ;  and 
of  the  Fruits  there ;  and  of  the  22  Kings  eticlosed  within  the 
Mountains 

NOW  shall  I  say  to  you,  following,  of  Countries  and  Isles 
that  be  beyond  the  Countries  that  I  have  spoken  of. 
Wherefore  I  say  to  you,  in  passing  by  the  Land  of 
Cathay  toward  the  High  Ind  and  toward  Bacharia,  Men  pass 
by  a  Kingdom  that  Men  call  Caldilhe,  that  is  a  full  fair 
Country. 

And  there  groweth  a  manner  of  Fruit,  as  though  it  were 
Gourds.  And  when  they  be  ripe,  Men  cut  them  in  two,  and 
Men  find  within  a  little  Beast  in  Flesh  and  Bone  and  Blood, 
as  though  it  were  a  little  Lamb  without  Wool.  And  Men 
eat  both  the  Fruit  and  the  Beast.  And  that  is  a  great  Marvel. 
Of  that  Fruit  I  have  eaten,  although  it  were  wonderful,  but 
that  I  know  well  that  God  is  marvellous  in  His  Works.  And, 
nevertheless,  I  told  them  of  as  great  a  Marvel  to  them,  that 
is  amongst  us,  and  that  was  of  the  Barnacle  Geese.  For  I 
told  them  that  in  our  Country  were  Trees  that  bear  a  Fruit 
that  become  Birds  flying,  and  those  that  fall  in  the  Water  live, 
and  they  that  fall  on  the  Earth  die  anon,  and  they  be  right 
good  to  Man's  Meat.  And  thereof  had  they  so  great  Marvel, 
that  some  of  them  trowed  it  were  an  impossible  Thing  to  be. 

In  that  Country  be  long  Apples  of  good  Savour,  whereof 
be  more  than  100  in  one  Cluster,  and  as  many  in  another,  and 
they  have  great  long  Leaves  and  large,  of  2  Foot  long  or 
more.  And  in  that  Country,  and  in  other  Countries  there- 
about, grow  many  Trees  that  bear  Gylofre-Cloves  and  Nut- 
megs, and  great  Nuts  of  Ind,  and  Cinnamon  and  many  other 
Spices.  And  there  be  Vines  that  bear  so  great  Grapes,  that 
a  strong  Man  should  have  enough  to  do  to  bear  one  Cluster 
with  all  the  Grapes. 

In  that  same  Region  be  the  Mountains  of  Caspian  that  Men 

168 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  169 

call  Uber  in  the  Country.  Between  those  Mountains  the 
Jews  of  10  Lineages  be  enclosed,  that  Men  call  Gog  and 
Magog,  and  they  may  not  go  out  on  any  Side.  There  were 
enclosed  22  Kings  with  their  People,  that  dwelled  between  the 
Mountains  of  Scythia.  There  King  Alexander  chased  them 
between  those  Mountains,  and  there  he  thought  to  enclose 
them  through  Work  of  his  Men.  But  when  he  saw  that  he 
might  not  do  it  nor  bring  it  to  an  End,  he  prayed  to  the  God 
of  Nature  that  He  would  perform  that  he  had  begun.  And 
albeit  so,  that  he  was  a  Paynim  and  not  worthy  to  be  heard, 
yet  God  of  His  Grace  closed  the  Mountains  together,  so  that 
they  dwell  there  all  fast  locked  and  enclosed  with  high  Moun- 
tains all  about,  save  only  on  one  Side,  and  on  that  Side  is  the 
Sea  of  Caspian. 

Now  Men  may  ask,  "  Since  that  the  Sea  is  on  that  one  Side, 
wherefore  go  they  not  out  on  the  Sea  Side,  to  go  where  it 
liketh  them  ? " 

But  to  this  Question,  I  shall  answer:  "That  Sea  of  Cas- 
pian goeth  out  by  Land  under  the  Mountains,  and  runneth  by 
the  Desert  at  one  Side  of  the  Country,  and  after  it  stretcheth 
unto  the  Ends  of  Persia,  and  although  it  be  clept  a  Sea,  it  is 
no  Sea,  nor  toucheth  it  to  any  other  Sea,  but  it  is  a  Lake,  the 
greatest  of  the  World ;  and  though  they  would  put  them  on 
to  that  Sea,  they  wist  never  where  they  should  arrive  ;  and 
also  they  know  no  Language  but  only  their  own,  that  no  Man 
knoweth  but  they;  and  therefore  may  they  not  go  out." 

And  also  ye  shall  understand,  that  the  Jews  have  no  Land 
of  their  own  to  dwell  in,  in  all  the  World,  but  only  that  Land 
between  the  Mountains.  And  yet  they  yield  Tribute  for  that 
Land  to  the  Queen  of  Amazonia,  the  which  maketh  them  to 
be  kept  enclosed  full  diligently,  that  they  shall  not  go  out 
on  any  Side  but  at  the  Cost  of  their  Land ;  for  their  Land 
marcheth  with  the  Mountains. 

And  often  it  hath  befallen,  that  some  of  these  Jews  have 
gone  up  the  Mountains  and  climbed  down  to  the  Valleys. 
But  sreat  Number  of  Folk  mav  not  do  so,  for  the  Mountains 
be  so  high  and  so  straight  up,  that  they  must  abide  there, 
maugre  their  Might.  For  they  may  not  go  out,  but  by  a  lit- 
tle Issue  that  was  made  by  Strength  of  Men,  and  it  lasteth 
well  a  4  great  Mile. 


I70  MANDEVILLE 

And  after,  is  there  then  a  Land  all  Desert,  where  Men 
may  find  no  Water,  neither  by  Digging  nor  by  any  other 
Thing.  Wherefore  Men  may  not  dwell  in  that  Place,  so  full 
is  it  of  Dragons,  Serpents  and  other  venomous  Beasts,  that 
no  man  dare  pass,  but  if  it  be  in  severe  Winter.  And  that 
strait  Passage  Men,  in  that  Country,  call  Clyron.  And  that  is 
the  Passage  that  the  Queen  of  Amazonia  maketh  to  be  kept. 
And  though  it  happen  that  some  of  them  by  Fortune  go  out, 
they  know  no  manner  of  Language  but  Hebrew,  so  that  they 
cannot  speak  to  the  People. 

And  yet,  nevertheless,  Men  say  that  they  shall  go  out  in 
the  Time  of  Anti-Christ,  and  that  they  shall  make  great 
Slaughter  of  Christian  Men.  And  therefore  all  the  Jews 
that  dwell  in  all  Lands  learn  always  to  speak  Hebrew,  in 
Hope,  that  when  the  other  Jews  shall  go  out,  that  they  may 
understand  their  Speech  and  lead  them  into  Christendom  to 
destroy  the  Christian  People.  For  the  Jews  say  that  they 
know  well  by  their  Prophecies,  that  they  of  Caspia  shall  go 
out,  and  spread  throughout  all  the  World,  and  that  the  Chris- 
tian Men  shall  be  under  their  Subjection,  as  long  as  they 
have  been  in  Subjection  to  them. 

And  if  that  ye  will  wit,  how  that  they  shall  find  their  Way, 
after  that  I  have  heard  say  I  shall  tell  you. 

In  the  Time  of  Anti-Christ  a  Fox  shall  make  there  his  Lair, 
and  mine  an  Hole  where  King  Alexander  made  make  the 
Gates  ;  and  so  long  shall  he  mine  and  pierce  the  Earth,  that 
he  shall  pass  through  towards  that  Folk,  And  when  they 
see  the  Fox,  they  shall  have  great  Marvel  of  him,  because 
that  they  saw  never  such  a  Beast.  For  all  other  Beasts  they 
have  enclosed  amongst  them,  save  only  the  Fox.  And  then 
they  shall  chase  him  and  pursue  him  so  straight,  till  that  he 
come  to  the  same  Place  that  he  came  from.  And  then  they 
shall  dig  and  mine  so  strongly,  till  that  they  find  the  Gates 
that  King  Alexander  made  make  of  Stones,  great  and  pass- 
ing huge,  well  cemented  and  made  strong  for  the  Mastery. 
And  those  Gates  they  shall  break,  and  so  go  out  by  finding 
of  that  Issue. 

From  that  Land  go  Men  toward  the  Land  of  Bacharia, 
where  be  full  evil  Folk  and  full  cruel.  In  that  Land  be  Trees 
that  bear  Wool,  as  though  it  were  of  Sheep,  whereof  they 
make  Clothes  and  all  Things  that  may  be  made  of  Wool. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  171 

In  that  Country  be  many  Hippotaynes  that  dwell  some- 
time in  the  Water  and  some-time  on  the  Land.  And  they 
be  half  Man  and  half  Horse,  as  I  have  said  before.  And 
they  eat  Men  when  they  may  take  them. 

And  there  be  Rivers  of  Waters  that  be  full  bitter,  3  times 
more  than  is  the  Water  of  the  Sea. 

In  that  Country  be  many  Griffins,  more  Plenty  than  in  any 
other  Country,  Some  Men  say  that  they  have  the  Body 
upward  as  an  Eagle  and  beneath  as  a  Lion  ;  and  truly  they 
say  Truth,  that  they  be  of  that  Shape.  But  one  Griffin 
hath  the  Body  more  great  and  is  more  strong  than  8  Lions, 
of  such  Lions  as  be  on  this  Side,  and  more  great  and  stronger 
than  100  Eagles  such  as  we  have  amongst  us.  For  one 
Griffin  there  will  bear,  flying  to  his  Nest,  a  great  Horse  if  he 
may  find  him  at  the  Place,  or  2  Oxen  yoked  together  as  they 
go  to  the  Plough.  For  he  hath  Talons  so  long  and  so  large 
and  so  great  upon  his  Feet,  as  though  they  were  Horns  of 
great  Oxen  or  of  Buffaloes  or  of  Kine,  that  Men  make 
Cups  of  them  to  drink  of.  And  of  their  Ribs  and  of  the 
Feathers  of  their  Wings,  Men  make  Bows,  full  strong,  to 
shoot  Arrows  and  Bolts  with. 

From  thence  go  Men  by  many  Days'  Journey  through 
the  Land  of  Prester  John,  the  great  Emperor  of  Ind.  And 
Men  call  his  Realm  the  Isle  of  Pentexoire. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

Of  the  Royal  Estate  of  Pi-ester  John.     And  of  a  rich  Man  that  made 
a  marvellous  Castle  and  called  it  Paradise  ;  and  of  his  Subtlety 

THIS  Emperor,  Prester  John,  holds  full  great  Land,  and 
hath  many  full  noble  Cities  and  good  Towns  in  his 
Realm,  and  many  great  divers  Isles  and  large.  For 
all  the  Country  of  Ind  is  divided  into  Isles  by  the  great  Rivers 
that  come  from  Paradise,  that  part  all  the  Land  into  many 
Parts.  And  also  in  the  Sea  he  hath  full  many  Isles.  And 
the  best  City  in  the  Isle  of  Pentexoire  is  Nyse,  that  is  a  full 
Royal  City  and  a  noble,  and  full  rich. 

This  Prester  John^  hath  under  him  many  Kings  and  many 
Isles  and  many  divers  Folk  of  divers  Conditions.  And  this 
Land  is  full  good  and  rich,  but  not  so  rich  as  is  the  Land  of 
the  great  Chan.  For  the  Merchants  come  not  thither  so 
commonly  to  buy  Merchandises,  as  they  do  in  the  Land  of 
the  great  Chan,  for  it  is  too  far  to  travel  to.  And  on  that 
other  Side,  in  the  Isle  of  Cathay,  Men  find  all  manner  of 
Thing  that  is  need-ful  to  Man  —  Cloths  of  Gold,  of  Silk,  and 
Spicery.  And  therefore,  albeit  that  Men  have  greater  Cheap- 
ness in  the  Isle  of  Prester  John,  nevertheless,  Men  dread  the 
long  Way  and  the  great  Perils  in  the  Sea  in  those  Parts. 

For  in  many  Places  of  the  Sea  be  great  Rocks  of  Stones 
of  the  Adamant  (or  Lode-stone),  that  of  his  own  Nature 
draweth  Iron  to  him.  And  therefore  pass  there  no  Ships 
that  have  either  Bonds  or  Nails  of  Iron  within  them.  And 
if  they  do,  anon  the  Rocks  of  the  Adamants  draw  them  to 

1  Prester  John,  according  to  common  medieval  belief,  was  a  priest-king 
who  had  converted  his  subjects  from  Islam  to  Christianity,  and  was  anx- 
ious to  open  up  communications  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  Numerous 
embassies  were  sent  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  to  Central 
Asia  in  search  of  this  lost  Christian  nation.  The  origin  of  the  legend  was 
probably  the  conversion  by  Nestorian  missionaries  in  the  twelfth  century, 
of  Ung,  khan  of  Karakorum  in  Turkestan,  who  was  later  overthrown  and 
killed  by  Genghis  Khan. 

172 


\ 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 73 

them,  that  never  they  may  go  thence.  I  myself  have  seen 
afar  off  in  that  Sea  as  though  it  had  been  a  great  Isle  full  of 
Trees  and  Bush,  full  of  Thorns  and  Briars,  great  Plenty. 
And  the  Shipmen  told  us,  that  all  that  was  of  Ships  that 
were  drawn  thither  by  the  Adamants,  for  the  Iron  that  was 
in  them.  And  from  the  Rotten-ness,  and  other  Things  that 
were  within  the  Ships,  grew  such  Bush,  and  Thorns  and 
Briars  and  green  Grass,  and  such  manner  of  Things,  and 
from  the  Masts  and  the  Sail-yards  it  seemed  a  great  Wood  or 
a  Grove.  And  such  Rocks  be  in  many  Places  thereabout. 
And  therefore  dare  not  the  Merchants  pass  there,  but  if  they 
know  well  the  Passages,  or  else  that  they  have  good  Pilots. 

And  also  they  dread  the  long  Way.  And  therefore  they 
go  to  Cathay,  for  it  is  more  nigh.  And  yet  it  is  not  so  nigh, 
but  that  Men  must  be  travelling  by  Sea  and  Land  1 1  Months 
or  12,  from  Genoa  or  Venice,  ere  they  come  to  Cathay.  And 
yet  is  the  Land  of  Prester  John  more  far  by  many  dreadful 
Days'  Journeys. 

And  the  Merchants  pass  by  the  Kingdom  of  Persia,  and 
go  to  a  City  that  is  clept  Hermes  (Ormuz),  for  Hermes  the 
Philosopher  founded  it.  And  after  that  they  pass  an  Arm 
of  the  Sea,  and  then  go  to  another  City  that  is  clept  Gol- 
bache.  And  there  they  find  Merchandises,  and  of  Popinjays 
(or  Parrots)  as  great  Plenty  as  Men  find  here  of  Geese.  And 
if  they  will  pass  further,  they  may  securely  enough.  In  that 
Country  is  but  little  go  Wheat  or  Barley,  and  therefore  they 
eat  Rice  and  Honey  and  Milk  and  Cheese  and  Fruit. 

This  Emperor  Prester  John  taketh  always  to  Wife  the 
Daughter  of  the  great  Chan  ;  and  the  great  Chan  also,  in 
the  same  Wise,  the  Daughter  of  Prester  John.  For  these  2 
be  the  greatest  Lords  under  the  Firmament. 

In  the  Land  of  Prester  John  be  many  divers  Things  and 
many  precious  Stones,  so  great  and  so  large,  that  Men  make 
of  them  Vessels,  as  Platters,  Dishes  and  Cups.  And  many 
other  Marvels  be  there,  that  it  were  too  cumbrous  and  too 
long  to  put  in  Writing  of  Books ;  but  of  the  principal  Isles 
and  of  his  Estate  and  of  his  Law,  I  shall  tell  you  some  Part. 

This  Emperor  Prester  John  is  Christian,  and  a  great  Part 
of  his  Country  also.  But  yet,  they  have  not  all  the  Articles 
of  our  Faith  as  we  have.     They  believe  well  in  the  Father, 


174  MANDEVILLE 

in  the  Son  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  they  be  full  devout 
and  right  true  to  one  another.  And  they  set  no  Store  by 
any  Contests,  nor  by  Tricks,  nor  on  any  Deceits. 

And  he  hath  under  him  72  Provinces,  and  in  every  Province 
is  a  King.  And  these  Kings  have  Kings  under  them,  and  all 
be  Tributaries  to  Prester  John.  And  he  hath  in  his  Lord- 
ships many  great  Marvels. 

For  in  his  Country  is  the  Sea  that  Men  call  the  Gravelly 
Sea,  that  is  all  Gravel  and  Sand,  without  any  Drop  of  Water, 
and  it  ebbeth  and  floweth  in  great  Waves  as  other  Seas  do, 
and  it  is  never  still  nor  at  Peace,  in  any  manner  of  Season. 
And  no  Man  may  pass  that  Sea  by  Ship,  nor  by  any  manner 
of  Craft,  and  therefore  may  no  Man  know  what  Land  is  be- 
yond that  Sea.  And  albeit  that  it  have  no  Water,  yet  Men 
find  therein  and  on  the  Banks  full  good  Fishes  of  other  man- 
ner of  Nature  and  Shape,  than  Men  find  in  any  other  Sea, 
and  they  be  of  right  good  Taste  and  delicious  for  Man's 
Meat. 

And  a  3  Days'  Journey  long  from  that  Sea  be  great  Moun- 
tains, out  of  the  which  goeth  out  a  great  River  that  cometh 
out  of  Paradise.  And  it  is  full  of  precious  Stones,  without  any 
Drop  of  Water,  and  it  runneth  through  the  Desert  on  the  one 
Side,  so  that  it  maketh  the  Sea  gravelly ;  and  it  runneth  into 
that  Sea,  and  there  it  endeth.  And  that  River  runneth,  also, 
3  Days  in  the  Week  and  bringeth  with  him  great  Stones  and 
the  Rocks  also  therewith,  and  that  great  Plenty.  And  anon, 
as  they  be  entered  into  the  Gravelly  Sea,  they  be  seen  no 
more,  but  lost  for  evermore.  And  in  those  3  Days  that  that 
River  runneth,  no  Man  dare  enter  into  it ;  but  on  other  Days 
Men  dare  enter  well  enough. 

Also  beyond  that  River,  more  upward  to  the  Deserts,  is  a 
great  Plain  all  gravelly,  between  the  Mountains.  And  in  that 
Plain,  every  Day  at  the  Sun-rising,  begin  to  grow  small  Trees, 
and  they  grow  till  Mid-day,  bearing  Fruit ;  but  no  Man  dare 
take  of  that  Fruit,  for  it  is  a  Thing  of  Faerie.  And  after 
Mid-day,  they  decrease  and  enter  again  into  the  Earth,  so 
that  at  the  going  down  of  the  Sun  they  appear  no  more. 
And  so  they  do,  every  Day.     And  that  is  a  great  Marvel. 

In  that  Desert  be  many  Wild  Men,  that  be  hideous  to  look 
on  ;  for  they  be  horned,  and  they  speak  nought,  but  they  grunt. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  175 

as  Pigs.  And  there  is  also  great  Plenty  of  wild  Hounds. 
And  there  be  many  Popinjays  (or  Parrots),  that  they  call 
Psittakes  ^  in  their  Language.  And  they  speak  of  their  own 
Nature,  and  say,  "  Salve  !  "  {"  God  save  you  !  ")  to  Men  that 
go  through  the  Deserts,  and  speak  to  them  as  freely  as  though 
it  were  a  Man  that  spoke.  And  they  that  speak  well  have  a 
large  Tongue,  and  have  5  Toes  upon  a  Foot.  And  there  be 
also  some  of  another  Manner,  that  have  but  3  Toes  upon  a 
Foot,  and  they  speak  not,  or  but  little,  for  they  cannot  but 
cry. 

This  Emperor  Prester  John  when  he  goeth  into  Battle 
against  any  other  Lord,  he  hath  no  Banners  borne  before 
him  ;  but  he  hath  3  Crosses  of  Gold,  fine,  great  and  high,  full 
of  precious  Stones,  and  every  one  of  the  Crosses  be  set  in  a 
Chariot,  full  richly  arrayed.  And  to  keep  every  Cross,  be 
ordained  10,000  Men  of  Arms  and  more  than  100,000  Men 
on  Foot,  in  manner  as  when  Men  would  keep  a  Standard  in 
our  Countries,  when  that  we  be  in  a  Land  of  War.  And  this 
Number  of  Folk  is  besides  the  principal  Host  and  besides 
the  Wings  ordained  for  the  Battle.  And  when  he  hath  no 
War,  but  rideth  with  a  private  Company,  then  he  hath  borne 
before  him  but  one  Cross  of  Tree,  without  Painting  and  with- 
out Gold  or  Silver  or  precious  Stones,  in  Remembrance  that 
Jesu  Christ  suffered  Death  upon  a  Cross  of  Wood.  And  he 
hath  borne  before  him  also  a  Platter  of  Gold  full  of  Earth,  in 
Token  that  his  Nobleness  and  his  Might  and  his  Flesh  shall 
turn  to  Earth.  And  he  hath  borne  before  him  also  a  Vessel 
of  Silver,  full  of  noble  Jewels  of  Gold  full  rich  and  of  precious 
Stones,  in  Token  of  his  Lordship  and  of  his  Nobleness  and 
of  his  Might. 

He  dwelleth  commonly  in  the  City  of  Susa.  And  there  is 
his  principal  Palace,  that  is  so  rich  and  noble,  that  no  Man 
will  believe  it  by  Estimation,  but  he  had  seen  it.  And  above 
the  chief  Tower  of  the  Palace  be  2  round  Pommels  or  Balls 
of  Gold,  and  in  each  of  them  be  2  Carbuncles  great  and  large, 
that  shine  full  bright  upon  the  Night.  And  the  principal 
gates  of  his  Palace  be  of  precious  Stone  that  Men  call  Sar- 
donyx, and  the  Border  and  the  Bars  be  of  Ivory.  And  the 
Windows  of  the  Halls  and  Chambers  be  of  Crystal.     And 

1  Lat. :  Psittacus,  parrot. 


176  MANDEVILLE 

the  Tables  whereon  Men  eat,  some  be  of  Emeralds,  some  of 
Amethyst,  and  some  of  Gold,  full  of  precious  Stones ;  and 
the  Pillars  that  bear  up  the  Tables  be  of  the  same  precious 
Stones.  And  of  the  Steps  to  go  up  to  his  Throne,  where  he 
sitteth  at  Meat,  one  is  of  Onyx,  another  is  of  Crystal,  and 
another  of  green  Jasper,  another  of  Amethyst,  another  of 
Sardine,  another  of  Cornelian,  and  the  7th,  that  he  setteth 
his  Feet  on,  is  of  Chrysolite.  And  all  these  Steps  be  bor- 
dered with  fine  Gold,  with  the  tother  precious  Stones,  set  with 
great  orient  Pearls.  And  the  Sides  of  the  Seat  of  his  Throne 
be  of  Emeralds,  and  bordered  with  Gold  full  nobly,  and  dubbed 
with  other  precious  Stones  and  great  Pearls.  And  all  the 
Pillars  in  his  Chamber  be  of  fine  Gold  with  precious  Stones, 
and  with  many  Carbuncles,  that  give  Light  upon  the  Night 
to  all  People.  And  albeit  that  the  Carbuncles  give  Light 
right  enough,  nevertheless,  at  all  Times  burneth  a  Vessel  of 
Crystal  full  of  Balm,  to  give  good  Smell  and  Odour  to  the 
Emperor,  and  to  void  away  all  wicked  Eyes  and  Corruptions. 
And  the  Form  of  his  Bed  is  of  fine  Sapphires,  bound  with 
Gold,  to  make  him  sleep  well  and  to  refrain  him  from  Lech- 
ery ;  for  he  will  not  lie  with  his  Wives,  but  4  Times  in  the 
Year,  according  to  the  4  Seasons,  and  that  is  only  to  engender 
Children. 

He  hath  also  a  full  fair  Palace  and  a  noble  at  the  City 
of  Nyse,  where  that  he  dwelleth,  when  it  best  liketh  him ; 
but  the  Air  is  not  so  temperate,  as  it  is  at  the  City  of  Susa. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  in  all  his  Country  and  in 
the  Countries  there  all  about,  Men  eat  not  but  once  in  the 
Day,  as  Men  do  in  the  Court  of  the  great  Chan.  And  so 
they  eat  every  Day  in  his  Court,  more  than  30,000  Persons, 
besides  Goers  and  Comers.  But  the  30,000  Persons  of  his 
Country,  and  of  the  Country  of  the  great  Chan,  spend  not 
so  much  in  goods  as  do  12,000  of  our  Country. 

This  Emperor  Prester  John  hath  evermore  7  Kings  with 
him  to  serve  him,  and  they  share  their  Service  by  certain 
Months.  And  with  these  Kings  serve  always  ^2  Dukes 
and  360  Earls.  And  all  the  Days  of  the  Year,  there  eat 
in  his  Household  and  in  his  Court,  12  Archbishops  and  20 
Bishops.  And  there  the  Patriarch  of  Saint  Thomas  is  as 
the  Pope  here.     And  the  Archbishops  and  the  Bishops  and 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 77 

the  Abbots  in  that  Country  be  all  Kings.  And  every  one 
of  these  great  Lords  know  well  enough  the  Attendance  of 
their  Service.  The  one  is  Master  of  his  Household,  another 
is  his  Chamberlain,  another  serveth  him  with  a  Dish,  another 
with  the  Cup,  another  is  Steward,  another  is  Marshal,  an- 
other is  Prince  of  his  Arms,  and  thus  is  he  full  nobly  and 
royally  served.  And  his  Land  endureth  verily  in  Breadth 
4  Months'  Journeys,  and  in  Length  beyond  Measure,  that 
is  to  say,  to  all  the  Isles  under  the  Earth  that  we  suppose 
to  be  under  us. 

Beside  the  Isle  of  Pentexoire,  that  is  the  Land  of  Prester 
John,  is  a  great  Isle,  long  and  broad,  that  Men  call  Mistorak  ; 
and  it  is  in  the  Lordship  of  Prester  John.  In  that  Isle  is 
great  Plenty  of  Goods. 

There  was  dwelling  there,  some-time,  a  rich  Man  ;  and  it  is 
not  long  since ;  and  Men  called  him  Gatholonabes.  And  he 
was  full  of  Tricks  and  of  subtle  Deceits.  And  he  had  a  full 
fair  Castle  and  a  strong  in  a  Mountain,  so  strong  and  so  noble, 
that  no  Man  could  devise  a  fairer  or  a  stronger.  And  he  had 
made  wall  all  the  Mountain  about  with  a  strong  Wall  and  a 
fair.  And  within  those  Walls  he  had  the  fairest  Garden  that 
any  Man  might  behold.  And  therein  were  Trees  bearing  all 
manner  of  Fruits,  that  any  Man  could  devise.  And  therein 
were  also  all  manner  of  Herbs  of  Virtue  of  good  Smell,  and  all 
other  Herbs  also  that  bear  fair  Flowers.  And  he  had  also  in 
that  Garden  many  fair  Wells  ;  and  beside  those  Wells  he  had 
made  fair  Halls  and  fair  Chambers,  painted  all  with  Gold  and 
Azure  ;  and  there  were  painted  in  that  Place  many  divers 
Things,  and  many  diverse  Stories  of  Beasts,  and  of  Birds  that 
sung  full  delectably  and  moved  by  Craft,  that  it  seemed  that 
they  were  alive.  And  he  had  also  in  his  Garden  all  manner 
of  Fowls  and  of  Beasts  that  any  Man  might  think  on,  to  have 
Play  or  Sport  to  behold  them. 

And  he  had  also,  in  that  Place,  the  fairest  Damsels  that 
might  be  found,  under  the  Age  of  15  Years,  and  the  fairest 
young  Striplings  that  Men  might  get,  of  that  same  Age. 
And  they  were  all  clothed  in  Cloths  of  Gold,  full  richly.  And 
he  said  that  those  were  Angels. 

And  he  had  also  made  3  Wells,  fair  and  noble,  and  all 
environed  with  Stone  of  Jasper,  and  of  Crystal,  diapered  with 
13 


1/8  MANDEVILLE 

Gold,  and  set  with  precious  Stones  and  great  orient  Pearls.  And 
he  had  made  a  Conduit  under  the  Earth,  so  that  the  3  Wells, 
at  his  List,  should  run,  one  Milk,  another  Wine  and  another 
Honey.     And  that  Place  he  clept  Paradise. 

And  when  that  any  good  Knight,  that  was  hardy  and  noble, 
came  to  see  this  Royalty,  he  would  lead  him  into  his  Paradise, 
and  show  him  these  wonderful  Things  for  his  Sport,  and  the 
marvellous  and  delicious  Song  of  divers  Birds,  and  the  fair 
Damsels,  and  the  fair  Wells  of  Milk,  Wine  and  Honey,  plente- 
ously  running.  And  he  would  make  divers  Instruments  of 
Music  to  sound  in  an  high  Tower,  so  merrily,  that  it  was  Joy 
to  hear ;  and  no  Man  should  see  the  Craft  thereof.  And  those, 
he  said,  were  Angels  of  God,  and  that  Place  was  Paradise,  that 
God  had  promised  to  his  Friends,  saying,  "  Dabo  vobis  Terram 
fluentem  Lacte  et  Melle  "  ("  I  shall  give  thee  a  Land  flowing 
with  Milk  and  Honey  ").  And  then  would  he  make  them  to 
drink  of  certain  Drink,  whereof  anon  they  should  be  drunk. 
And  then  would  they  think  it  greater  Delight  than  they  had 
before.  And  then  would  he  say  to  them,  that  if  they  would 
die  for  him  and  for  his  Love,  that  after  their  Death  they 
should  come  to  his  Paradise ;  and  they  should  be  of  the  Age 
of  the  Damsels,  and  they  should  play  with  them,  and  yet  be 
Maidens.  And  after  that  should  he  put  them  in  a  yet  fairer 
Paradise,  where  that  they  should  see  the  God  of  Nature  visibly, 
in  His  Majesty  and  in  His  Bliss.  And  then  would  he  shew 
them  his  Intent,  and  say  to  them,  that  if  they  would  go  slay 
such  a  Lord,  or  such  a  Man  that  was  his  Enemy  or  contrarious 
to  his  List,  that  they  should  not  therefore  dread  to  do  it  and 
to  be  slain  themselves.  For  after  their  Death,  he  would  put 
them  in  another  Paradise,  that  was  an  100-fold  fairer  than  any 
of  the  tother  ;  and  there  should  they  dwell  with  the  most  fair- 
est Damsels  that  might  be,  and  play  with  them  ever-more. 

And  thus  went  many  divers  lusty  Bachelors  to  slay  great 
Lords  in  divers  Countries,  that  were  his  Enemies,  and  made 
themselves  to  be  slain,  in  Hope  to  have  that  Paradise.  And 
thus,  often-time,  he  was  revenged  of  his  Enemies  by  his  subtle 
Deceits  and  false  Tricks. 

And  when  the  worthy  Men  of  the  Country  had  perceived 
this  subtle  Falsehood  of  this  Gatholonabes,  they  assembled 
them  with  Force,  and  assailed  his  Castle,  and  slew  him,  and 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  179 

destroyed  all  the  fair  Places  and  all  the  Nobilities  of  that 
Paradise.  The  Place  of  the  Wells  and  of  the  Walls  and  of 
many  other  Things  be  yet  openly  seen,  but  the  Riches  be 
clean  voided.  And  it  is  not  long  ago,  since  that  Place  was 
destroyed. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

Of  the  DcviPs  Head  in  the  Valley  Perilous.     And  of  the  Customs  of 
Folk  ifi  diverse  Isles  that  be  about  in  the  Lordship  of  Prester  John 

BESIDE  that  Isle  of  Mistorak  upon  the  left  Side  nigh  to 
the  River  of  Pison  is  a  marvellous  Thing.  There  is  a 
Vale  between  the  Mountains,  that  endureth  nigh  a  4 
Mile.  And  some  call  it  the  Vale  Enchanted,  some  call  it  the 
Vale  of  Devils,  and  some  call  it  the  Vale  Perilous.  In  that 
Vale  hear  Men  often-time  great  Tempests  and  Thunders,  and 
great  Murmurs  and  Noises,  all  Days  and  Nights,  and  great 
Noise,  as  it  were  Sound  of  Tabors  and  of  Nakers  (Drums)  and 
Trumps,  as  though  it  were  of  a  great  Feast.  This  Vale  is  all 
full  of  Devils,  and  hath  been  always.  And  Men  say  there, 
that  it  is  one  of  the  Entries  of  Hell.  In  that  Vale  is  great 
Plenty  of  Gold  and  Silver.  Wherefore  many  misbelieving 
Men,  and  many  Christian  Men  also,  go  in  often-time  to  have 
of  the  Treasure  that  there  is ;  but  few  come  back  again,  and 
especially  of  the  misbelieving  Men,  nor  of  the  Christian  Men 
either,  for  they  be  anon  strangled  of  Devils. 

And  in  mid  Place  of  that  Vale,  under  a  Rock,  is  an  Head 
and  the  Visage  of  a  Devil  bodily,  full  horrible  and  dreadful  to 
see,  and  it  sheweth  not  but  the  Head,  to  the  Shoulders.  But 
there  is  no  Man  in  the  World  so  hardy,  Christian  Man  nor 
other,  but  that  he  would  be  a-dread  to  behold  it,  and  that  it 
would  seem  to  him  to  die  for  Dread,  so  hideous  is  it  to  behold. 
For  he  beholdeth  every  Man  so  sharply  with  dreadful  Eyes, 
that  be  evermore  moving  and  sparkling  like  Fire,  and  chan- 
geth  and  stareth  so  often  in  diverse  Manner,  with  so  horrible 
Countenance,  that  no  Man  dare  draw  nigh  towards  him.  And 
from  him  cometh  out  Smoke  and  Stink  and  Fire  and  so  much 
Abomination,  that  scarcely  any  Man  may  there  endure. 

But  the  good  Christian  Men,  that  be  stable  in  the  Faith, 
enter  well  without  Peril.  For  they  will  first  shrive  them,  and 
mark  them  with  the  Token  of  the  Holy  Cross,  so  that  the 

180 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  l8l 

Fiends  have  no  Power  over  them.  But  albeit  that  they  be  with- 
out Peril,  yet,  nevertheless,  they  be  not  without  Dread,  when 
that  they  see  the  Devils  visibly  and  bodily  all  about  them,  that 
make  full  many  diverse  Assaults  and  Menaces,  in  Air  and  in 
Earth,  and  aghast  them  with  Strokes  of  Thunder-blasts  and 
of  Tempests.  And  the  most  Dread  is,  that  God  will  take 
Vengeance  then  on  what  Men  have  misdone  against  His  Will. 
And  ye  shall  understand,  that  when  my  Fellows  and  I  were 
in  that  Vale,  we  were  in  great  Thought,  whether  that  we 
durst  put  our  Bodies  in  Adventure,  to  go  in  or  not,  in  the 
Protection  of  God,  And  some  of  our  Fellows  accorded  to 
enter,  and  some  not.  So  there  were  with  us  2  worthy  Men, 
Friars  Minors,  that  were  of  Lombardy,  that  said,  that  if  any 
Man  would  enter  they  would  go  in  with  us.  And  when  they 
had  said  so,  upon  the  gracious  Trust  of  God  and  of  them,  we 
made  sing  Mass,  and  made  every  Man  to  be  shriven  and 
houseled.  And  then  we  entered  14  Persons ;  but  at  our 
going  out  we  were  but  9.  And  so  we  wist  never,  whether 
that  our  Fellows  were  lost,  or  else  turned  again  for  Dread. 
But  we  saw  them  never  after ;  and  those  were  2  Men  of 
Greece,  and  3  of  Spain.  And  our  other  Fellows  that  would 
not  go  in  with  us,  they  went  by  another  Side  to  be  before  us  ; 
and  so  they  were. 

And  thus  we  passed  that  Perilous  Vale,  and  found  therein 
Gold  and  Silver,  and  precious  Stones  and  rich  Jewels,  great 
Plenty,  both  here  and  there,  as  it  seemed  to  us.  But  whether 
that  it  was  as  it  seemed  to  us,  I  wot  never.  For  I  touched 
none,  because  that  the  Devils  be  so  subtle  to  make  a  Thing 
to  seem  otherwise  than  it  is,  to  deceive  Mankind.  And  there- 
fore I  touched  none,  and  also  because  that  I  would  not  be  put 
out  of  my  Devotion  ;  for  I  was  more  devout  then,  than  ever  I 
was  before  or  after,  and  all  for  the  Dread  of  Fiends  that  I  saw 
in  diverse  Figures,  and  also  for  the  great  Multitude  of  dead 
Bodies,  that  I  saw  there  lying  by  the  Way,  by  all  the  Vale,  as 
though  there  had  been  a  Battle  between  2  Kings  the  mightiest 
of  the  Country,  and  that  the  greater  Part  had  been  discomfited 
and  slain.  And  I  trow,  that  scarcely  should  any  Country  have 
so  much  People  within  him,  as  lay  slain  in  that  Vale  as  we 
thought,  the  which  was  an  hideous  Sight  to  see.  And  I  mar- 
velled much,  that  there  were  so  many,  and  the  Bodies  all 


1 82  MANDEVILLE 

whole  without  rotting.  But  I  trow,  that  Fiends  made  them 
so  seem  to  be  whole  without  rotting.  But  it  might  not  be 
to  mine  Advice  that  so  many  should  have  entered  so  newly, 
neither  so  many  newly  slain,  without  stinking  and  rotting. 
And  many  of  them  were  in  Habit  of  Christian  Men,  but 
I  trow  well,  that  they  were  of  such  that  went  in  for  Covet- 
ousness  of  the  Treasure  that  was  there,  and  had  over-much 
Feebleness  in  Faith  ;  so  that  their  Hearts  might  not  endure 
in  the  Belief  for  Dread.  And  therefore  were  we  the  more 
devout  a  great  Deal.  And  yet  we  were  cast  down,  and  beaten 
down  many  times  to  the  hard  Earth  by  Winds  and  Thunders 
and  Tempests.  But  evermore  God  of  His  Grace  help  us. 
And  so  we  passed  that  Perilous  Vale  without  Peril  and  with- 
out Encumbrance.     Thanked  be  Almighty  God  ! 

After  this,  beyond  the  Vale,  is  a  great  Isle,  where  the  Folk 
be  great  Giants  of  28  Foot  long,  or  of  30  Foot  long.  And 
they  have  no  Clothing  but  of  Skins  of  Beasts  that  they  hang 
upon  them.  And  they  eat  no  Bread,  but  all  raw  Flesh  ;  and 
they  drink  Milk  of  Beasts,  for  they  have  Plenty  of  all  Cattle. 
And  they  have  no  Houses  to  lie  in.  And  they  eat  more  gladly 
Man's  Flesh  than  any  other  Flesh.  Into  that  Isle  dare  no 
Man  gladly  enter.  And  if  they  see  a  Ship  and  Men  therein, 
anon  they  enter  into  the  Sea  to  take  them. 

And  Men  said  to  us,  that  in  an  Isle  beyond  that  were 
Giants  of  greater  Stature,  some  of  45  Foot,  or  50  Foot  long, 
and,  as  some  Men  say,  of  50  Cubits  long.  But  I  saw  none 
of  those,  for  I  had  no  Lust  to  go  to  those  Parts,  because  that 
no  Man  cometh  neither  into  that  Isle  nor  into  the  other,  but 
he  be  devoured  anon.  And  among  those  Giants  be  Sheep 
as  great  as  Oxen  here,  and  they  bear  great  Wool  and  rough. 
Of  the  Sheep  I  have  seen  many  times.  And  Men  have  seen, 
many  times,  those  Giants  take  Men  in  the  Sea  out  of  their 
Ships,  and  bring  them  to  Land,  2  in  one  Hand  and  2  in  an- 
other, eating  them  going,  all  raw  and  all  alive. 

Another  Isle  is  there  toward  the  North,  in  the  Sea  Ocean, 
where  that  be  full  cruel  and  evil  Women  of  Nature.  And 
they  have  precious  Stones  in  their  Eyes.  And  they  be  of 
that  Nature,  that  if  they  behold  any  Man  with  Wrath,  they 
slay  him  anon  with  the  Beholding,  as  doth  the  Basilisk. 

After  that  is  another  Isle,  where  that  Women  make  great 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  183 

Sorrow  when  their  Children  be  born.  And  when  they  die, 
they  malce  great  Feast  and  great  Joy  and  Revel,  and  then 
they  cast  them  into  a  great  burning  Fire.  And  those  that 
love  well  their  Husbands,  if  their  Husbands  be  dead,  they 
cast  themselves  also  in  the  Fire  with  their  Children,  and 
burn  themselves.  And  they  say  that  the  Fire  shall  cleanse 
them  of  all  Filths  and  of  all  Vices,  and  they  shall  go  purified 
and  clean  into  another  World  to  their  Husbands,  and  they 
shall  lead  their  Children  with  them.  And  the  Cause  why 
that  they  weep,  when  their  Children  be  born  is  this,  that 
when  they  come  into  this  World,  they  come  to  Labour,  Sor- 
row and  Heaviness.  And  why  they  make  Joy  and  Gladness 
at  their  Dying  is  because  that,  as  they  say,  then  they  go  to 
Paradise  where  the  Rivers  run  Milk  and  Honey,  where  Men 
see  them  in  Joy  and  in  Abundance  of  Goods,  without  Sorrow 
and  Labour. 

In  that  Isle  Men  make  their  King  evermore  by  Election, 
and  they  choose  him  not  for  any  Nobleness  or  for  any  Riches, 
but  such  an  one  as  is  of  good  Manners  and  of  good  Condi- 
tions, and  therewithal  righteous,  and  also  see  that  he  be  of 
great  Age,  and  that  he  have  no  Children.  In  that  Isle  Men 
be  full  righteous  and  they  do  righteous  Judgments  in  every 
Cause  both  of  rich  and  poor,  small  and  great,  after  the  Quan- 
tity of  the  Trespass  that  is  misdone.  And  the  King  may 
no  doom  any  Man  to  Death  without  Assent  of  his  Barons 
and  other  Men  wise  of  Counsel,  and  if  that  all  the  Court  ac- 
cord thereto.  And  if  the  King  himself  do  any  Homicide  or 
any  Crime,  as  to  slay  a  Man,  or  any  such  Hazard,  he  shall 
die  there  for.  But  he  shall  not  be  slain  as  another  Man  ; 
but  Men  shall  forbid,  on  Pain  of  Death,  that  any  Man  be  so 
hardy  as  to  make  him  Company  or  to  speak  with  him,  or  that 
any  Man  give  him  or  sell  him  or  serve  him,  either  with  Meat 
or  Drink ;  and  so  shall  he  die  in  Misfortune.  They  spare  no 
Man  that  hath  trespassed,  neither  for  Love  nor  for  Favour 
nor  for  Riches  nor  for  Nobleness ;  but  that  shall  he  have, 
according  to  that  he  hath  done. 

Beyond  that  Isle  is  another  Isle,  where  is  great  Multitude 
of  Folk.  And  they  will  not,  for  any  thing,  eat  Flesh  of 
Hares,  or  of  Hens,  or  of  Geese,  and  yet  they  breed  enough, 
to  see  them  and  to  behold  them  only ;  but  they  eat  Flesh  of 


1 84  MANDEVILLE 

all  other  Beasts,  and  drink  Millc  In  that  Country  they  take 
their  Daughters  and  their  Sisters  to  Wife,  and  their  other 
Kins-women.  And  if  there  be  lo  or  12  Men  or  more  dwell- 
ing in  an  House,  the  Wife  of  every  one  of  them  shall  be  com- 
mon to  all  them  that  dwell  in  that  House ;  so  that  every  Man 
may  lie  with  whom  he  will  of  them  on  one  Night,  and  with 
another,  another  Night.  And  if  she  have  any  Child,  she  may 
give  it  to  what  Man  she  list,  that  hath  companied  with  her, 
so  that  no  Man  knoweth  there  whether  the  Child  be  his  or 
another's.  And  if  any  Man  say  to  them,  that  they  nourish 
other  Men's  Children,  they  answer  that  so  do  other  Men 
theirs. 

In  that  Country  and  by  all  Ind  be  great  Plenty  of  Cocko- 
drills,  that  is  a  manner  of  a  long  Serpent,  as  I  have  said  be- 
fore. And  in  the  Night  they  dwell  in  the  Water,  and  in  the 
Day  upon  the  Land,  in  Rocks  and  Caves.  And  they  eat  no 
Meat  in  all  the  Winter,  but  they  lie  as  in  a  Dream,  as  do  Ser- 
pents. These  Serpents  slay  Men,  and  they  eat  them  weep- 
ing ;  and  when  they  eat  they  move  the  over  Jaw,  and  not  the 
nether  Jaw,  and  they  have  no  Tongue. 

In  that  Country  and  in  many  others  beyond  that,  and  also 
in  many  on  this  Side,  Men  put  the  Seed  of  Cotton  to  work, 
and  they  sow  it  every  Year.  And  then  groweth  it  in  small 
Trees,  that  bear  Cotton.  And  so  do  Men  every  Year,  so  that 
there  is  Plenty  of  Cotton  at  all  times.  Item  :  in  this  Isle  and 
in  many  other,  there  is  a  manner  of  Wood,  hard  and  strong. 
Whoso  covereth  the  Coals  of  that  Wood  under  the  Ashes 
thereof,  the  Coals  will  dwell  and  abide  all  alive,  a  Year  or 
more.  And  that  Tree  hath  many  Leaves,  as  the  Juniper 
hath.  And  there  be  also  many  Trees,  of  that  Nature  that 
they  will  never  burn  nor  rot  in  any  manner.  And  there  be 
Nut  Trees,  that  bear  Nuts  as  great  as  a  Man's  Head. 

There  also  be  many  Beasts,  that  be  clept  Orafles  (Giraffes) . 
In  Arabia,  they  be  clept  Gerfaunts.  That  is  a  dappled  or 
spotted  Beast,  that  is  but  a  little  more  high  than  is  a  Steed, 
but  he  hath  the  Neck  a  20  Cubits  long ;  and  his  Croup  and 
his  Tail  be  as  of  an  Hart ;  and  he  may  look  over  a  great  high 
House.  And  there  be  also  in  that  Country  many  Chame- 
leons ;  that  is  a  little  Beast  as  a  Goat,  that  is  wild,  and  he 
liveth  on  the  Air  and  eateth  nought  and  drinketh  nought  at 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 85 

any  time.  And  he  changeth  his  Colour  often-time,  for  Men 
see  him  often-times,  now  in  one  Colour  and  now  in  another 
Colour;  and  he  may  change  him  into  all  manner  of  Colours 
that  he  list,  save  only  into  red  and  white.  There  be  also  in 
that  Country  passing  great  Serpents,  some  of  120  Foot  long, 
and  they  be  of  divers  Colours,  and  rayed,  as  red,  green,  yellow, 
blue  and  black,  and  all  speckled.  And  there  be  others  that 
have  Crests  upon  their  Heads,  and  they  go  upon  their  Feet, 
upright,  and  they  be  well  a  4  Fathom  great,  or  more,  and 
they  dwell  always  in  Rocks  or  in  Mountains,  and  they  have 
always  the  Throat  open,  from  whence  they  drop  Venom 
always.  And  there  be  also  Wild  Swine  of  many  Colours,  as 
great  as  be  Oxen  in  our  Country,  and  they  be  all  spotted,  as 
be  young  Fawns.  And  there  be  also  Hedgehogs,  as  great 
as  Wild  Swine  here ;  we  call  them  Porcupines.  And  there 
be  Lions  all  white,  great  and  mighty.  And  there  be  also  of 
other  Beasts,  as  great  and  more  greater  than  is  a  War-horse, 
and  Men  call  them  Loerancs  ;  and  some  Men  call  them  Oden- 
thos ;  and  they  have  a  black  Head  and  3  long  Horns,  trench- 
ant, on  the  Forehead,  sharp  as  a  Sword,  and  the  Body  is 
slender ;  and  he  is  a  full  felonious  Beast,  and  he  chaseth  and 
slayeth  the  Elephant.  There  be  also  many  other  Beasts,  full 
wicked  and  cruel,  that  be  not  much  greater  than  a  Bear,  and 
they  have  the  Head  like  a  Boar,  and  they  have  6  Feet,  and 
on  every  Foot  2  large  Claws,  trenchant ;  and  the  Body  is  like 
a  Bear,  and  the  Tail  as  a  Lion.  And  there  be  also  Mice  as 
great  as  Hounds,  and  yellow  Mice  as  great  as  Ravens.  And 
there  be  Geese,  all  red,  3  Times  more  great  than  ours  here, 
and  they  have  the  Head,  the  Neck  and  the  Breast  all  black. 

And  many  other  diverse  Beasts  be  in  those  Countries,  and 
elsewhere  thereabout,  and  many  diverse  Birds  also,  of  the 
which  it  were  too  long  to  tell  you.  And  therefore,  I  pass 
them  over  at  this  Time. 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

Of  the  Goodness  of  the  Folk  of  the  Isle  of  B ragman.     Of  King  Alex-- 
ander.     And  wherefore  the  Emperor  of  Jnd  is  cleft  Prester  John 

AND  beyond  that  Isle  is  another  Isle,  great  and  good 
and  plenteous,  where  there  be  good  Folk  and  true,  and 
of  good  Living  after  their  Belief  and  of  good  Faith. 
And  albeit  that  they  be  not  christened,  nor  have  any  perfect 
Law,  yet,  nevertheless,  by  natural  Law  they  be  full  of  all 
Virtue,  and  they  eschew  all  Vices  and  all  Malices  and  all 
Sins.  For  they  be  not  proud,  nor  covetous,  nor  envious,  nor 
wrathful,  nor  Gluttons,  nor  lecherous.  Nor  do  they  to  any 
Man  otherwise  than  they  would  that  other  Men  did  to  them, 
and  in  this  Point  they  fulfill  the  lo  Commandments  of  God. 
And  they  set  no  Weight  on  Possessions  or  on  Riches.  And 
they  lie  not,  nor  swear  they,  on  any  Occasion,  but  they  say 
simply.  Yea  and  Nay ;  for  they  say,  "  He  that  sweareth  will 
deceive  his  Neighbour,"  and  therefore,  all  that  they  do,  they 
do  it  without  Oath. 

And  Men  call  that  Isle  the  Isle  of  Bragman,  and  some 
Men  call  it  the  Land  of  Faith.  And  through  that  Land  run- 
neth a  great  River  that  is  clept  Thebe.  And,  in  general,  all 
the  Men  of  those  Isles  and  of  all  the  Borders  thereabout  be 
more  true  than  in  any  other  Countries  thereabout,  and  more 
righteous  than  others  in  all  Things.  In  that  Isle  is  no  Thief, 
nor  Murderer,  nor  common  Woman,  nor  poor  Beggar,  nor 
ever  was  Man  slain  in  that  Country.  And  they  be  as  chaste, 
and  lead  as  good  a  Life,  as  though  they  were  religious  Men, 
and  they  fast  all  Days.  And  because  they  be  so  true  and  so 
righteous,  and  so  full  of  all  good  Conditions,  they  were  never 
grieved  with  Tempests,  nor  with  Thunder,  nor  with  Light- 
ning, nor  with  Hail,  nor  with  Pestilence,  nor  with  War,  nor 
with  Hunger,  nor  with  any  other  Tribulation,  as  we  be,  many 
times,  amongst  us,  for  our  Sins.  Wherefore,  it  seemeth  well, 
that  God  loveth  them  and  is  pleased  with  their  Faith  and 

1 86 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 8/ 

their  good  Deeds.  They  believe  well  in  God,  that  made  all 
Things,  and  Him  they  worship.  And  they  prize  not  earthly 
Riches ;  and  so  they  be  all  righteous.  And  they  live  full 
orderly,  and  so  soberly  in  Meat  and  Drink,  that  they  live 
right  long.  And  the  most  Part  of  them  die  without  Sickness, 
when  Nature  faileth  them,  for  old  Age. 

And  it  befell  in  King  Alexander's  Time,  that  he  purposed 
him  to  conquer  that  Isle  and  to  make  them  to  hold  it  of  him. 
And  when  they  of  the  Country  heard  it,  they  sent  Messengers 
to  him  with  Letters,  that  said  thus  :  "What  may  be  enough 
for  that  Man  to  whom  all  the  World  is  insufficient  ?  Thou 
shalt  find  nothing  in  us,  that  may  cause  thee  to  war  against  us. 
For  we  have  no  Riches,  nor  covet  we  any,  and  all  the  Goods 
of  our  Country  be  in  common.  Our  Meat,  that  we  sustain 
withal  our  Bodies,  is  our  Riches.  And,  instead  of  Treasure 
of  Gold  and  Silver,  we  make  our  Treasure  of  Accord  and 
Peace,  and  the  Love  of  every  Man  for  the  other.  And  to 
apparel  our  Body  with,  we  use  a  simple  little  Clout  to  wrap 
our  Carrion  in.  Our  Wives  be  not  arrayed  to  make  any  Man 
Pleasure,  but  in  suitable  Array  to  eschew  Folly.  When  Men 
pain  themselves  to  array  the  Body,  to  make  it  seem  fairer 
than  God  made  it,  they  do  great  Sin.  For  Man  should  not 
devise  nor  ask  greater  Beauty,  than  God  hath  ordained  Man 
to  be  at  his  Birth.  The  Earth  ministereth  to  us  2  Things, 
—  our  Livelihood,  that  cometh  of  the  Earth  that  we  live  by, 
and  our  Sepulture  after  our  Death.  We  have  been  in  per- 
petual Peace  till  now,  that  thou  be  come  to  disinherit  us. 
And  also  we  have  a  King,  not  to  do  Justice  to  every  Man, 
for  he  shall  find  no  Forfeit  among  us,  but  to  keep  Nobleness, 
and  to  shew  that  we  be  obeissant,  we  keep  a  King.  For  Jus- 
tice hath  not  among  us  any  Place,  for  we  do  no  Man  otherwise 
than  we  desire  that  Men  do  to  us.  So  that  Righteousness 
and  Vengeance  have  nought  to  do  among  us.  So  that  noth- 
ing may  thou  take  from  us,  but  our  good  Peace,  that  always 
hath  endured  among  us." 

And  when  King  Alexander  had  read  those  Letters,  he 
thought  that  he  should  do  great  Sin,  to  trouble  them.  And 
then  he  sent  them  Sureties,  that  they  should  keep  their  good 
Manners  and  their  good  Peace,  as  they  had  used  before,  of 
Custom.     And  so  he  let  them  alone. 


1 88  MANDEVILLE 

Another  Isle  there  is,  that  I\Ien  call  Oxidrate,  and  another 
Isle,  that  Men  call  Gynosophe,  where  there  is  also  good 
Folk,  and  full  of  good  Faith.  And  they  hold,  for  the  most 
Part,  the  good  Conditions  and  Customs  and  good  Manners,  as 
IMen  of  the  Country  abovesaid  ;  but  they  go  all  naked. 

Into  that  Isle  entered  King  Alexander,  to  see  the  Man- 
ners. And  when  he  saw  their  great  Faith,  and  their  Truth 
that  was  amongst  them,  he  said  he  would  not  grieve  them, 
and  bade  them  ask  of  him  what  that  they  would  have  of 
him.  Riches  or  anything  else,  and  they  should  have  it,  with 
good  Will.  And  they  answered,  that  he  was  rich  enough 
that  had  Meat  and  Drink  to  sustain  the  Body  with,  for  the 
Riches  of  this  World,  that  is  transitory,  be  not  of  Worth  ;  but 
if  it  were  in  his  Power  to  make  them  immortal,  thereof  would 
they  pray  him,  and  thank  him.  And  Alexander  answered 
them  that  it  was  not  in  his  Power  to  do  it,  because  he  was 
mortal,  as  they  were.  And  then  they  asked  him  why  he  was 
so  proud  and  so  fierce,  and  so  busy  to  put  all  the  World  under 
his  Subjection,  "right  as  thou  wert  a  God,  and  hast  no  Terra 
of  this  Life,  neither  Day  nor  Hour,  and  wiliest  to  have  all 
the  World  at  thy  Commandment,  that  shall  leave  thee  with- 
out Fail,  or  thou  leave  it.  And  right  as  it  hath  been  to  other 
Men  before  thee,  right  so  it  shall  be  to  other  after  thee. 
And  from  hence  shalt  thou  bear  nothing ;  but  as  thou  wert 
born  naked,  right  so  all  naked  shall  thy  Body  be  turned  into 
Earth  that  thou  w^ert  made  of.  WTierefore  thou  shouldest 
think  and  impress  it  in  thy  Mind,  that  nothing  is  immortal, 
but  only  God,  that  made  all  Things."  By  the  which  Answer 
Alexander  was  greatly  astonished  and  abashed,  and  all  con- 
fused departed  from  them. 

And  albeit  that  these  Folk  have  not  the  Articles  of  our 
Faith  as  we  have,  nevertheless,  for  their  good  natural  Faith, 
and  for  their  good  Intent,  I  trow  fully,  that  God  loveth  them, 
and  that  God  taketh  their  Service  in  Favour,  right  as  He 
did  of  Job,  that  was  a  Paynim,  and  held  him  for  His  true 
Servant.  And  therefore,  albeit  that  there  be  many  diverse 
Laws  in  the  World,  yet  I  trow,  that  God  loveth  always  them 
that  love  Him,  and  serve  Him  meekly  in  Truth,  and  espe- 
cially them  that  despise  the  vain  Glory  of  this  World,  as  this 
Folk  do  and  as  Job  did  also. 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 89 

And  therefore  said  our  Lord  by  the  Mouth  of  Rosea  the 
Prophet,  "Ponam  eis  multiplices  Leges  Meas "  ("I  have 
written  to  him  the  great  Things  of  my  Law  ")  ;  and  also  in 
another  Place,  "  Qui  totum  Orbem  subdit  suis  Legibus " 
("Who  subjected  the  whole  World  to  His  Laws").  And 
also  our  Lord  saith  in  the  Gospel,  "Alias  Oves  habeo,  que 
non  sunt  ex  hoc  Ovilis  "  ("And  other  Sheep  I  have  which 
are  not  of  this  Fold") ;  that  is  to  say,  that  he  had  other  Ser- 
vants than  those  that  be  under  Christian  Law.  And  to  that 
accordeth  the  Vision  that  Saint  Peter  saw  at  Jaffa,  how  the 
Angel  came  from  Heaven,  and  brought  before  him  divers 
Beasts,  as  Serpents  and  creeping  Beasts  of  the  Earth,  and 
of  other  also,  great  Plenty,  and  bade  him  take  and  eat.  And 
Saint  Peter  answered  :  "I  eat  never,"  quoth  he,  "of  unclean 
Beasts."  And  then  said  the  Angel,  "  Non  dicas  immunda, 
que  Deus  mundavit "  ("  What  God  hath  cleansed,  that  call 
thou  not  common  ").  And  that  was  in  Token  that  no  Man 
should  have  in  Despite  any  earthly  Man  for  their  diverse 
Laws,  for  we  know  not  whom  God  loveth,  nor  whom  God 
hateth.  And  for  that  Example,  when  Men  say,  "  De  Pro- 
fundis,"  they  say  it  in  common  and  in  general,  with  the 
Christians,  "Pro  animabus  omnium  defunctorum,  pro  quibus 
sit  orandum  "  ("On  behalf  of  the  Souls  of  the  Dead,  for 
whom  we  ought  to  pray  "). 

And  therefore  say  I  of  this  Folk,  that  be  so  true  and  so 
faithful,  that  God  loveth  them.  For  He  hath  amongst  them 
many  of  the  Prophets,  and  always  hath  had.  And  in  those 
Isles,  they  prophesied  the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord  Jesu 
Christ,  how  he  should  be  born  of  a  Maiden,  3000  Year  or 
more  ere  our  Lord  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  And  they 
believe  well  in  the  Incarnation,  and  that  full  perfectly,  but 
they  know  not  the  Manner,  how  He  suffered  His  Passion 
and  Death  for  us. 

And  beyond  these  Isles  there  is  another  Isle  that  is  clept 
Pytan.  The  Folk  of  that  Country  neither  till,  nor  labour 
the  Earth,  for  they  eat  no  manner  of  Thing.  And  they  be 
of  good  Colour  and  of  fair  Shape,  after  their  Greatness.  But 
the  small  be  as  Dwarfs,  but  not  so  little  as  be  the  Pigmies. 
These  Men  live  by  the  Smell  of  wild  Apples.  And  when 
they  go  any  far  Way,  they  bear  the  Apples  with  them ;  for 


igo  MANDEVILLE 

if  they  had  lost  the  Savour  of  the  Apples,  they  should  die 
anon.  They  be  not  full  reasonable,  but  they  be  simple  and 
bestial. 

After  that  is  another  Isle,  where  the  Folk  be  all  full  of 
Feathers  and  rough  as  a  rough  Beast,  save  only  the  Face  and 
the  Palm  of  the  Hand.  These  Folk  go  as  well  under  the 
Water  of  the  Sea,  as  they  do  above  the  Land  all  dry.  And 
they  eat  both  Flesh  and  Fish  all  raw.  In  this  Isle  is  a  great 
River  that  is  well  a  2  Mile  and  an  half  of  Breadth  that  is 
clept  Beumare. 

And  from  that  River  a  15  Days'  Journey  in  Length,  going 
by  the  Deserts  of  the  tother  Side  of  the  River,  whoso  might 
go  it, — for  I  was  not  there  but  it  was  told  us  by  them  of 
the  Country,  —  that  within  those  Deserts  were  the  Trees  of 
the  Sun  and  of  the  Moon,  that  spake  to  King  Alexander, 
and  warned  him  of  his  Death.  And  Men  say  that  the  Folk 
that  keep  those  Trees,  and  eat  of  the  Fruit  and  of  the  Balm 
that  groweth  there,  live  well  400  Year  or  500  Year,  by  Virtue 
of  the  Fruit  and  of  the  Balm.  For  Men  say  that  Balm 
groweth  there  in  great  Plenty  and  nowhere  else,  save  only 
at  Babylon,  as  I  have  told  you  before.  We  would  have  gone 
toward  the  Trees  full  gladly  if  we  had  might.  But  I  trow 
that  100,000  Men  of  Arms  might  not  pass  the  Deserts  safely, 
for  the  great  Multitude  of  wild  Beasts  and  of  great  Dragons 
and  of  great  Serpents  that  there  be,  that  slay  and  devour  all 
that  come  anent  them.  In  that  Country  be  many  white  Ele- 
phants without  Number,  and  Unicorns  and  Lions  of  many 
Manners,  and  many  of  such  Beasts  that  I  have  told  of  before, 
and  of  hideous  Beasts  without  Number. 

Many  other  Isles  there  be  in  the  Land  of  Prester  John, 
and  many  great  Marvels,  that  were  too  long  all  to  tell,  both 
of  his  Riches  and  of  his  Nobleness  and  of  the  great  Plenty 
also  of  precious  Stones  that  he  hath.  I  trow  that  ye  know 
well  enough,  and  have  heard  say,  wherefore  this  Emperor  is 
clept  Prester  John.  But,  nevertheless,  for  them  that  know 
not,  I  shall  say  to  you  the  Cause. 

It  was  some-time  an  Emperor  there,  that  was  a  worthy 
and  a  full  noble  Prince,  that  had  Christian  Knights  in  his 
Company,  as  he  hath  that  is  now  there.  So  it  befell,  that 
he  had  great  List  to  see  the  Service  in  the  Church  among 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  191 

Christian  Men.  And  then  endured  Christendom  beyond  the 
Sea,  through  all  Turkey,  Syria,  Tartary,  Jerusalem,  Palestine, 
Arabia,  Aleppo  and  all  the  Land  of  Egypt.  And  so  it  befell 
that  this  Emperor  came  with  a  Christian  Knight  with  him 
into  a  Church  in  Egypt.  And  it  was  a  Saturday  in  Whitsun 
Week.  And  the  Bishop  was  conferring  Orders.  And  he 
beheld,  and  Hstened  to  the  Service  full  attentively.  And  he 
asked  the  Christian  Knight  what  Men  of  Degree  they  should 
be  that  the  Prelate  had  before  him.  And  the  Knight  an- 
swered  and  said  that  they  should  be  Priests.  And  the 
Emperor  said  that  he  would  no  longer  be  clept  King  nor 
Emperor,  but  Priest,  and  that  he  would  have  the  Name  of 
the  first  Priest  that  went  out  of  the  Church,  and  his  Name 
was  John.  And  so  ever-more  since,  he  is  clept  Prester  John. 
In  his  Land  be  many  Christian  Men  of  good  Faith  and  of 
good  Law,  and  especially  them  of  the  same  Country,  and  have 
commonly  their  Priests,  that  sing  the  Mass,  and  make  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  of  Bread,  right  as  the  Greeks  do ;  but 
they  say  not  so  many  Things  at  the  Mass  as  Men  do  here.  For 
they  say  not  but  only  that,  that  the  Apostles  said,  as  our  Lord 
taught  them,  right  as  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Thomas  and  the 
other  Apostles  sung  the  Mass,  saying  the  Pater  Noster  and  the 
Words  of  the  Sacrament.  But  we  have  many  more  Additions 
that  divers  Popes  have  made,  that  they  know  not  of. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

Of  the  Hills   of  Gold  that  Pismires   keep.     And  of  the  4  Rivers 
that  come  frotn    Terrestrial  Paradise 

TOWARD  the  East  Part  of  Prester  John's  Land  is  an 
Isle  good  and  great,  that  Men  call  Taprobane,  that  is 
full  noble  and  full  fruitful.  And  the  King  thereof  is  full 
rich,  and  is  under  the  Obeissance  of  Prester  John.  And  always 
there  they  make  their  King  by  Election.  In  that  Isle  be  2 
Summers  and  2  Winters,  and  Men  harvest  the  Corn  twice  a 
Year.  And  in  all  the  Seasons  of  the  Year  be  the  Gardens  in 
Blossom,  There  dwell  good  Folk  and  reasonable,  and  many 
Christian  Men  amongst  them,  that  be  so  rich  that  they  wit 
not  what  to  do  with  their  Goods.  Of  old  Time,  when  Men 
passed  from  the  Land  of  Prester  John  unto  that  Isle,  Men  made 
Disposition  to  pass  by  Ships,  23  Days,  or  more  ;  but  now  Men 
pass  by  Ship  in  7  Days.  And  Men  may  see  the  Bottom  of  the 
Sea  in  many  Places,  for  it  is  not  full  deep. 

Beside  that  Isle,  toward  the  East,  be  2  other  Isles.  And 
Men  call  the  one  Orille,  and  the  other  Argyte,  of  the  which 
all  the  Land  is  a  Mine  of  Gold  and  Silver.  And  those  Isles 
be  right  where  that  the  Red  Sea  departeth  from  the  Sea 
Ocean.  And  in  those  Isles  Men  see  there  no  Stars  so  clearly 
as  in  other  Places.  For  there  appear  no  Stars,  but  only  one 
clear  Star  that  Men  call  Canapos.  And  there  is  the  Moon  not 
seen  in  all  the  Lunation,  save  only  in  the  second  Quarter. 

In  the  Isle  also  of  this  Taprobane  be  great  Hills  of  Gold, 
that  Pismires  keep  full  diligently.  And  they  refine  the  puri- 
fied Gold,  and  cast  away  the  un-purified.  And  these  Pismires 
be  as  great  as  Hounds.  So  that  no  Man  dare  come  to  those 
Hills,  for  the  Pismires  would  assail  them  and  devour  them 
anon.  So  that  no  Man  may  get  of  that  Gold,  but  by  great 
Sleight.  And  when  it  is  great  Heat,  the  Pismires  rest  them 
in  the  Earth,  from  Prime  of  the  Day  unto  Noon.  And  then 
the  Folk  of  the  Country  take  Camels,  Dromedaries,  and  Horses 

192 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  1 93 

and  other  Beasts,  and  go  thither,  and  charge  them  in  all  Haste 
that  they  may  ;  and  after  that,  they  flee  away  in  all  Haste  that 
the  Beasts  may  go,  ere  the  Pismires  come  out  of  the  Earth. 
And  in  other  times,  when  it  is  not  so  hot,  and  that  the  Pismires 
rest  them  not  in  the  Earth,  then  they  get  Gold  by  this  Subtlety. 
They  take  Mares  that  have  young  Colts  or  Foals,  and  lay  upon 
the  Mares  empty  Vessels  made  there  for  ;  and  they  be  all  open 
above,  and  hanging  low  to  the  Earth.  And  then  they  send 
forth  those  Mares  to  pasture  about  those  Hills,  and  with-hold 
the  Foals  with  them  at  Home.  And  when  the  Pismires  see 
those  Vessels,  they  leap  in  anon  :  and  they  have  this  Nature 
that  they  let  nothing  be  empty  among  them,  but  anon  they  fill 
it,  be  it  what  manner  of  Thing  that  it  be  ;  and  so  they  fill  those 
Vessels  with  Gold.  And  when  that  Folk  suppose  that  the 
Vessels  be  full,  they  put  forth  anon  the  young  Foals,  and  make 
them  to  neigh  after  their  Dams.  And  then  anon  the  Mares 
return  towards  their  Foals  with  their  Charges  of  Gold.  And 
then  Men  uncharge  them,  and  get  Gold  enough  by  this  subtlety. 
For  the  Pismires  will  suffer  Beasts  to  go  and  pasture  amongst 
them,  but  no  Man  in  no  wise. 

And  beyond  the  Land  and  the  Isles  and  the  Deserts  of  Pres- 
ter  John's  Lordship,  in  going  straight  toward  the  East,  Men 
find  nothing  but  Mountains  and  Rocks,  full  great.  And  there 
is  the  dark  Region,  where  no  Man  may  see,  neither  by  Day 
nor  by  Night,  as  they  of  the  Country  say.  And  that  Desert 
and  that  Place  of  Darkness  endure  from  this  Side  unto  Terres- 
trial Paradise,  where  that  Adam,  our  first  Father,  and  Eve  were 
put,  that  dwelled  there  but  little  while  :  and  that  is  towards  the 
East  at  the -Beginning  of  the  Earth.  But  that  is  not  that  East 
that  we  call  our  East,  on  this  Side,  where  the  Sun  riseth  to 
us.  For  when  the  Sun  is  East  in  those  Parts  towards  Terres- 
trial Paradise,  it  is  then  Midnight  in  our  Parts  of  this  Side,  for 
the  Roundness  of  the  Earth,  of  the  which  I  have  told  you  be- 
fore. For  our  Lord  God  made  the  Earth  all  round  in  the  mid 
Place  of  the  Firmament.  And  there  be  Mountains  and  Hills 
and  Valleys  that  be  only  from  Noah's  Flood,  that  wasted  the 
soft  Ground  and  the  tender,  that  fell  down  into  Valleys,  and 
the  hard  Earth  and  the  Rocks  abode  as  Mountains,  when  the 
soft  Earth  and  tender  waxed  soft  through  Water,  and  fell  and 
became  Valleys. 
14 


194  MANDEVILLE 

Of  Paradise  cannot  I  speak  properly.  For  I  was  not  there. 
It  is  far  beyond.  And  that  grieveth  me.  And  also  I  was  not 
worthy.  But  as  I  have  heard  say  of  wise  Men  beyond,  I  shall 
tell  you  with  good  Will. 

Terrestrial  Paradise,  as  wise  Men  say,  is  the  highest  Place 
of  Earth,  that  is  in  all  the  World.  And  it  is  so  high  that  it 
toucheth  nigh  to  the  Circle  of  the  Moon,  there  where  the 
Moon  maketh  her  Turn ;  for  she  is  so  high  that  there  might 
not  come  to  her  the  Flood  of  Noah,  that  covered  all  the  Earth 
of  the  World  all  about  and  above  and  beneath,  save  only  Para- 
dise alone.  And  this  Paradise  is  enclosed  all  about  with  a 
Wall,  and  Men  wit  not  whereof  it  is  ;  for  the  Walls  be  covered 
all  over  with  Moss,  as  it  seemeth.  And  it  seemeth  not  that  the 
Wall  is  Stone  of  Nature.  And  that  Wall  stretcheth  from  the 
South  to  the  North,  and  it  hath  but  one  Entry  that  is  closed 
with  Fire,  burning  ;  so  that  no  Man  that  is  mortal  dare  enter. 

And  in  the  most  high  Place  of  Paradise,  evenly  in  the  mid- 
dle Place,  is  a  Well  that  casteth  out  the  4  Rivers  that  run  by 
divers  Lands.  Of  the  which,  the  first  is  clept  Pison,  or  Gan- 
ges, that  are  one  and  the  same  ;  and  it  runneth  throughout 
Ind  or  Emlak,  in  the  which  River  be  many  precious  Stones, 
and  much  of  Lignum  Aloes  and  much  Gravel  of  Gold.  And 
that  other  River  is  clept  Nile,  or  Gison,  that  goeth  by  Ethi- 
opia and  after  by  Egypt.  And  that  other  is  clept  Tigris, 
that  runneth  by  Assyria  and  by  Armenia  the  Great.  And 
that  other  is  clept  Euphrates,  that  runneth  also  by  Media  and 
Armenia  and  by  Persia.  And  Men  there  beyond  say,  that 
all  the  sweet  Waters  of  the  World,  above  and  beneath,  take 
their  Beginning  from  the  Well  of  Paradise,  and  out  of  that 
Well  all  Waters  come  and  go. 

The  first  River  is  clept  Pison,  that  is  to  say  in  their  Lan- 
guage, Assembly  ;  for  many  other  Rivers  meet  there,  and  go 
into  that  River.  And  some  Men  call  it  Ganges,  from  a  King 
that  was  in  Ind,  that  was  hight  Gangeres,  and  as  it  ran 
throughout  his  Land.  And  that  Water  is  in  some  Places 
clear,  and  in  some  Places  troubled,  in  some  Places  hot,  and 
in  some  Places  cool. 

The  second  River  is  clept  Nile,  or  Gison  ;  for  it  is  always 
troubled ;  and  Gison,  in  the  Language  of  Ethiopia,  is  to  say. 
Troubled,  and  in  the  Language  of  Egypt  also. 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  195 

The  third  River,  that  is  clept  Tigris,  is  as  much  as  to  say 
as,  Fast-running ;  for  he  runneth  more  fast  than  any  of  the 
tother ;  and  also  there  is  a  Beast,  that  is  clept  Tiger,  that  is 
fast-running. 

The  fourth  River  is  clept  Euphrates,  that  is  to  say.  Well- 
bearing  ;  for  there  grow  many  Goods  upon  that  River,  as 
Corns,  Fruits  and  other  Goods  plenty  enough. 

And  ye  shall  understand  that  no  Man  that  is  mortal  may 
approach  to  that  Paradise.  For  by  Land  no  Man  may  go  for 
wild  Beasts  that  be  in  the  Deserts,  and  for  the  high  Moun- 
tains and  great  huge  Rocks  that  no  Man  may  pass  by,  for  the 
dark  Places  that  be  there,  and  that  many.  And  by  the  Rivers 
may  no  Man  go.  For  the  Water  runneth  so  rudely  and  so 
sharply,  because  that  it  cometh  down  so  outrageou.sly  from 
the  high  Places  above,  that  it  runneth  in  Waves  so  great, 
that  no  Ship  may  row  or  sail  against  it.  And  the  Water 
roareth  so,  and  maketh  so  huge  Noise  and  so  great  Tempest, 
that  no  Man  may  hear  another  in  the  Ship,  though  he  cried 
with  all  the  Strength  that  he  could  in  the  highest  Voice  that 
he  might.  Many  great  Lords  have  assayed  with  great  Will, 
many  Times,  to  pass  by  those  Rivers  towards  Paradise,  with 
full  great  Companies.  But  they  might  not  speed  in  their 
Voyage.  And  many  died  for  Weariness  of  rowing  against 
those  strong  Waves.  And  many  of  them  became  blind,  and 
many  deaf,  for  the  Noise  of  the  Water.  And  some  were 
perished  and  lost  within  the  Waves.  So  that  no  mortal  Man 
may  approach  to  that  Place,  without  special  Grace  of  God,  so 
that  of  that  Place  I  can  say  you  no  more ;  and  therefore,  I 
shall  hold  me  still,  and  return  to  that,  that  I  have  seen. 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

Of  the  Customs  of  Kings  and  others  that  dwell  in  the  Isles  coasting  to 
Frester  John's  Land.  And  of  the  Worship  that  a  Son  doth  to  his 
Father  when  he  is  dead 

FROM  these  Isles  that  I  have  spoken  of  before,  in  the 
Land  of  Prester  John,  that  be  under  Earth  as  to  us 
that  be  of  this  Side,  and  from  other  Isles  that  be  more 
further  beyond,  whoso  will,  may  pursue  his  Journey  to  come 
again  right  to  the  Parts  that  he  came  from,  and  so  environ 
all  the  Earth.  But  what  for  the  Isles,  what  for  the  Sea,  and 
what  for  strong  Rowing,  few  Folk  assay  to  pass  that  Passage  ; 
albeit  that  Men  might  do  it  well,  that  might  be  of  Power  to 
address  them  thereto,  as  I  have  said  to  you  before.  And 
therefore  Men  return  from  those  Isles  abovesaid  by  other 
Isles  coasting  from  the  Land  of  Prester  John. 

And  then  come  Men  in  returning  to  an  Isle  that  is  clept 
Casson.  And  that  Isle  hath  well  a  60  Days'  Journey  in 
Length,  and  more  than  50  in  Breadth.  This  is  the  best  Isle 
and  the  best  Kingdom  that  is  in  all  those  Parts,  taking  out 
Cathay.  And  if  the  Merchants  used  as  much  that  Country 
as  they  do  Cathay,  it  would  be  better  than  Cathay  in  a  short 
while.  This  Country  is  full  well  inhabited,  and  so  full  of 
Cities  and  of  good  Towns  inhabited  with  People,  that  when 
a  Man  goeth  out  of  one  City,  he  seeth  another  City  even  be- 
fore him  ;  and  that  is  so,  whatever  Part  that  a  Man  go  to, 
in  all  that  Country.  In  that  Isle  is  great  Plenty  of  all  Goods 
to  live  with,  and  all  manner  of  Spices.  And  there  be  great 
Forests  of  Chestnuts.  The  King  of  that  Isle  is  full  rich  and 
mighty,  and,  nevertheless,  he  holds  his  Land  of  the  great 
Chan,  and  is  obeissant  to  him.  For  it  is  one  of  the  12  Prov- 
inces that  the  great  Chan  hath  under  him,  besides  his  own 
Land,  and  besides  other  less  Isles  that  he  hath  ;  for  he  hath 
full  many. 

196 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  197 

From  that  Kingdom  come  Men,  in  returning,  to  another 
Isle  that  is  clept  Rybothe,  and  it,  also,  is  under  the  great  Chan. 
That  is  a  full  good  Country,  and  full  plenteous  of  all  Goods 
and  of  Wines  and  Fruit  and  all  other  Riches.  And  the  Folk 
of  that  Country  have  no  Houses,  but  they  dwell  and  lie  all 
under  Tents  made  of  black  Fern,  in  all  the  Country.  And 
the  principal  City  and  the  most  royal  is  all  walled  with  black 
Stone  and  white.  And  all  the  Streets  also  be  paved  of  the 
same  Stones.  In  that  City  is  no  Man  so  hardy  as  to  shed 
Blood  of  any  Man,  nor  of  any  Beast,  for  the  Reverence  of  an 
Idol  that  is  worshipped  there.  And  in  that  Isle  dwelleth  the 
Pope  of  their  Law,  that  they  call  Lobassy.  This  Lobassy 
giveth  all  the  Benefices,  and  all  other  Dignities  and  all  other 
Things  that  belong  to  the  Idol.  And  all  those  that  hold  any- 
thing of  their  Churches,  religious  Men  and  others,  obey  him, 
as  Men  do  here  of  the  Pope  of  Rome. 

In  that  Isle  they  have  a  Custom  by  all  the  Country,  that 
when  the  Father  is  dead  of  any  Man,  and  the  Son  list  to  do 
great  Worship  to  his  Father,  he  sendeth  to  all  his  Friends 
and  to  all  his  Kin,  and  for  religious  Men  and  Priests,  and  for 
Minstrels  also,  great  Plenty.  And  then  Men  bear  the  dead 
Body  unto  a  great  Hill  with  great  Joy  and  Solemnity,  And 
when  they  have  brought  it  thither,  the  Chief  Prelate  smiteth 
off  the  Head,  and  layeth  it  upon  a  great  Platter  of  Gold  and 
of  Silver,  if  so  be  that  he  be  a  rich  Man.  And  then  he  taketh 
the  Head  to  the  Son.  And  then  the  Son  and  his  other  Kin 
sing  and  say  many  Orisons.  And  then  the  Priests  and  the 
religious  Men  smite  all  the  Body  of  the  dead  Man  in  Pieces. 
And  then  they  say  certain  Orisons.  And  the  Fowls  of  Ravin 
of  all  the  Country  about  know  the  Custom  of  long  time  be- 
fore, and  come  flying  above  in  the  Air;  as  Eagles,  Kites, 
Ravens  and  other  Fowls  of  Ravin,  that  eat  Flesh.  And  then 
the  Priests  cast  the  Gobbets  of  the  Flesh  ;  and  then  the 
Fowls,  each  of  them,  take  that  they  may,  and  go  a  little 
thence  and  eat  it ;  and  so  they  do  whilst  any  Piece  lasteth  of 
the  dead  Body. 

And  after  that,  as  Priests  amongst  us  sing  for  the  Dead, 
"  Subvenite  Sancti  Dei,"  etc.,  "  Come  to  his  Assistance,  ye 
Saints  of  God,"  etc.,  right  so  the  Priests  sing  in  high  Voice 
in   their    Language,    "  Behold  how  worthy  a   Man  and  how 


198  MANDEVILLE 

good  a  Man  this  was,  that  the  Angels  of  God  come  to  seek 
him  and  bring  him  into  Paradise."  And  then  seemeth  it  to 
the  Son,  that  he  is  highly  worshipped,  when  that  many  Birds 
and  Fowls  and  Ravens  come  and  eat  his  Father ;  and  he  that 
hath  most  Number  of  Fowls  is  most  worshipped. 

Then  the  Son  bringeth  Home  with  him  all  his  Kin,  and 
his  Friends,  and  all  the  others  to  his  House,  and  maketh  them 
a  great  Feast.  And  then  all  his  Friends  make  their  Vaunt 
and  their  Dalliance,  how  the  Fowls  come  thither,  here  5,  here 
6,  here  10,  and  there  20,  and  so  forth ;  and  they  rejoice  them 
hugely  to  speak  thereof.  And  when  they  be  at  Meat,  the 
Son  makes  bring  forth  the  Head  of  his  Father,  and  thereof 
he  giveth  of  the  Flesh  to  his  most  special  Friends,  instead  of 
a  Dainty,  or  a  Sweet-meat.  And  of  the  Brain  Pan,  he  has 
made  a  Cup,  and  there  from  drinketh  he  and  his  other  Friends 
also,  with  great  Devotion,  in  Remembrance  of  the  holy  Man, 
that  the  Angels  of  God  have  eaten.  And  that  Cup  the  Son 
shall  keep  to  drink  from,  all  his  Life-time,  in  Remembrance 
of  his  Father. 

From  that  Land,  in  returning  by  a  10  Days'  Journey 
throughout  the  Land  of  the  great  Chan,  is  another  good  Isle 
and  a  great  Kingdom,  where  the  King  is  full  rich  and  mighty. 

And  amongst  the  rich  Men  of  his  Country  is  a  passing  rich 
Man,  that  is  neither  Prince,  nor  Duke,  nor  Earl,  but  he  hath 
more  that  hold  of  him  Lands  and  other  Lordships,  for  he  is 
more  rich.  For  he  hath,  every  Year,  of  annual  Rent  300,000 
Horses  charged  with  Corn  of  diverse  Grains  and  of  Rice.  And 
so  he  leadeth  a  full  noble  Life  and  a  delicate,  after  the  Custom 
of  the  Country.  For  he  hath,  every  Day,  50  fair  Damsels,  all 
Maidens,  that  serve  him  evermore  at  his  Meat,  and  to  lie  with 
him  at  Night,  and  to  do  with  them  what  is  to  his  Pleasure. 
And  when  he  is  at  Table,  they  bring  him  his  Meat  at  every 
Time,  5  and  5  together  ;  and  in  bringing  their  Service  they 
sing  a  Song.  And  after  that,  they  cut  his  Meat,  and  put  it  in 
his  Mouth  ;  for  he  toucheth  nothing,  nor  handles  nought,  but 
holdeth  evermore  his  Hands  before  him  upon  the  Table.  For 
he  hath  Nails  so  long,  that  he  may  take  nothing,  nor  handle 
anything.  For  the  Nobleness  of  that  Country  is  to  have  long 
Nails,  and  to  make  them  grow  always  to  be  as  long  as  Men 
may.     And  there  be  many  in  that  Country,  that  have  their 


VOYAGES   AND   TRAVELS  199 

Nails  so  long,  that  they  environ  all  the  Hand.  And  that  is  a 
great  Nobleness.  And  the  Nobleness  of  the  Women  is  to 
have  small  Feet  and  little.  And  therefore  anon  when  they 
be  born,  they  make  bind  their  Feet  so  straitly,  that  they  may 
not  grow  half  as  Nature  would.  And  always  these  Damsels, 
that  I  spake  of  before,  sing  all  the  Time  that  this  rich  Man 
eateth.  And  when  that  he  eateth  no  more  of  his  first  Course, 
then  other  5  and  5  of  fair  Damsels  bring  him  his  second  Course, 
always  singing  as  they  did  before.  And  so  they  do  continually 
to  the  End  of  his  Meat.  And  in  this  Manner  he  leadeth  his 
Life.  And  so  did  they  before  him,  that  were  his  Ancestors. 
And  so  shall  they  that  come  after  him,  without  doing  of  any 
Deeds  of  Arms,  but  live  evermore  thus  in  Ease,  as  a  Swine 
that  is  fed  in  a  Sty  to  be  made  fat.  He  hath  a  full  fair  Palace 
and  full  rich,  that  he  dwelleth  in,  of  the  which  the  Walls  be, 
in  Circuit,  2  Mile.  And  he  hath  within  many  fair  Gardens, 
and  many  fair  Halls  and  Chambers  ;  and  the  Pavement  of  his 
Halls  and  Chambers  be  of  Gold  and  Silver.  And  in  the  raid 
Place  of  one  of  his  Gardens  is  a  little  Mountain,  where  there 
is  a  little  Meadow.  And  in  that  Meadow  is  a  little  Hill  with 
Towers  and  Pinnacles,  all  of  Gold.  And  on  that  little  Hill  will 
he  sit  often-time,  to  take  the  Air  and  disport  him. 

From  that  Country  Men  come  to  the  Land  of  the  great  Chan 
also,  that  I  have  spoken  of  before. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  that  of  all  these  Countries,  and  of 
all  these  Isles,  and  of  all  the  divers  Folk,  that  I  have  spoken  of 
before,  and  of  divers  Laws,  and  of  Beliefs  that  they  have,  is 
there  yet  none  of  these  all  but  have  some  Reason  within  them 
and  Understanding,  unless  it  be  a  few,  and  that  have  certain 
Articles  of  our  Faith  and  some  good  Points  of  our  Belief,  and 
that  believe  in  God,  that  formed  all  Things  and  made  the  World, 
and  that  call  Him  God  of  Nature  ;  after  what  the  Prophet  saith, 
"  Et  metuent  Eum  omnes  Fines  Terrae  "  ("And  all  the  Ends  of 
the  Earth  fear  Him  "),  and  also  in  another  Place,  "Omnes  Gen- 
tes  servient  Ei,"  that  is  to  say,  "All  Folk  shall  serve  Him." 

But  they  cannot  speak  perfectly,  for  there  is  no  Man  to 
teach  them,  but  only  what  they  can  devise  by  their  natural 
Wit.  For  they  have  no  Knowledge  of  the  Son,  nor  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  But  they  can  all  speak  of  the  Bible,  and  espe- 
cially of  Genesis,  of  the  Prophets'  Laws  and  of  the  Books  of 


20O  MANDEVILLE 

Moses.  And  they  say  well,  that  the  Creatures  that  they 
worship  be  no  Gods  ;  but  they  worship  them  for  the  Virtue 
that  is  in  them,  that  may  not  be  but  only  by  the  Grace  of 
God.  And  of  Simulacres  and  Idols,  they  say,  that  there  be 
no  Folk,  but  that  they  have  Simulacres.  And  that  they  say, 
just  as  we  Christian  Men  have  Images,  as  of  our  Lady  and  of 
other  Saints  that  we  worship;  not  the  Images  of  Wood  or 
of  Stone,  but  the  Saints,  in  whose  Names  they  be  made 
after.  For  right  as  their  Books  of  the  Scriptures  teach  the 
Clerks  how  and  in  what  Manner  they  shall  believe,  right 
so  the  Images  and  the  Paintings  teach  the  lay  Folk  to 
worship  the  Saints  and  to  have  them  in  their  Mind,  in 
whose  Names  that  the  Images  be  made  after.  They  say 
also,  that  the  Angels  of  God  speak  to  them  in  those  Idols, 
and  that  they  do  many  great  Miracles.  And  they  say 
Truth,  that  there  is  an  Angel  within  them.  For  there  be  2 
Manner  of  Angels,  a  good  and  an  evil,  as  the  Greeks  say, 
Kakos  and  Kalos.  This  Kakos  is  the  wicked  Angel,  and 
Kalos  is  the  good  Angel.  But  the  tother,  that  is  within 
the  Idols,  is  not  the  good  Angel,  but  the  wicked  Angel,  to 
deceive  them  and  maintain  them  in  their  Error. 

There  be  many  other  divers  Countries  and  many  other 
Marvels  beyond,  that  I  have  not  seen.  Wherefore,  of  them 
I  cannot  speak  properly  to  tell  you  the  Manner  of  them. 
And  also  in  the  Countries  where  I  have  been,  be  many  Di- 
versities of  many  wonderful  Things,  more  than  I  make  Men- 
tion of ;  for  it  were  too  long  a  Thing  to  advise  you  of  the 
Manner.  And  therefore,  as  that  I  have  advised  you  of  cer- 
tain Countries,  that  I  have  spoken  of  before,  I  beseech  your 
worthy  and  excellent  Nobleness,  that  it  suffice  to  you  at  this 
Time.  For  if  that  I  advised  you  of  all  that  is  beyond  the 
Sea,  another  Man,  perchance,  that  would  pain  him  and  tra- 
vail his  Body  to  go  into  those  Borders,  to  search  those  Coun- 
tries, might  be  blamed  by  my  Words  in  rehearsing  many 
strange  Things ;  for  he  might  not  say  anything  new,  in  the 
which  the  Hearers  might  have  either  Solace,  or  Sport,  or 
Lust,  or  Liking  in  the  Hearing.  For  Men  say  always,  that 
new  Things  and  new  Tidings  be  pleasant  to  hear.  Where- 
fore I  will  hold  me  still,  without  any  more  rehearsing  of  Di- 
versities or  of   Marvels  that  be  beyond,  to  that  Intent  and 


VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS  201 

End,  that  whoso  will  go  into  these  Countries,  he  shall  find 
enough  to  speak  of,  that  I  have  not  touched  on  in  any  wise. 

And  ye  shall  understand,  if  it  like  you,  that  at  mine  Home- 
coming, I  came  to  Rome,  and  shewed  my  Life  to  our  Holy 
Father  the  Pope,  and  was  assoiled  of  all  that  lay  on  my  Con- 
science, on  many  a  diverse  grievous  Point ;  as  Men  must  needs 
that  be  in  Company,  dwelling  amongst  so  many  diverse  Folk 
of  diverse  Sects  and  Beliefs,  as  I  have  been. 

And  amongst  all,  I  shewed  him  this  Treatise,  that  I  had 
made  after  Information  of  Men  that  knew  of  Things  that  I 
had  not  seen  myself,  and  also  of  Marvels  and  Customs  that  I 
had  seen  myself,  as  far  as  God  would  give  me  Grace ;  and 
besought  his  Holy  Father-hood,  that  my  Book  might  be 
examined  and  corrected  by  Advice  of  his  wise  and  discreet 
Council.  And  our  Holy  Father,  of  his  special  Grace,  remitted 
my  Book  to  be  examined  and  proved  by  the  Advice  of  his 
said  Counsel.  By  the  which  my  Book  was  proved  for  true, 
insomuch,  that  they  shewed  me  a  Book,  that  my  Book  was 
examined  by,  that  comprehended  full  much  more,  by  an  looth 
Part,  after  the  which  the  "  Mappa  Mundi  "  was  made.  And  so 
my  Book  (albeit  that  many  Men  list  not  to  give  Credence  to 
anything,  but  to  that,  that  they  have  seen  with  their  Eye, 
be  the  Author  or  the  Person  never  so  true)  is  affirmed  and 
proved  by  our  Holy  Father,  in  Manner  and  Form  as  I  have 
said. 

And  I,  John  Mandevile,  Knight,  abovesaid,  although  I  be 
unworthy,  that  departed  from  our  Countries  and  passed  the 
Sea,  the  Year  of  Grace  1322,  that  have  passed  many  Lands 
and  many  Isles  and  Countries,  and  searched  many  full  strange 
Places,  and  have  been  in  many  a  full  good  honourable  Com- 
pany, and  at  many  a  fair  Deed  of  Arms,  albeit  that  I  did 
none  myself,  for  mine  incapable  Insufficiency,  now  am  come 
Home,  maugre  myself,  to  rest.  For  Gouts  and  Rheumatics, 
that  distress  me  —  those  define  the  End  of  my  Labour; 
against  my  Will,  God  knoweth  ! 

And  thus,  taking  Solace  in  my  wretched  Rest,  recording 
the  Time  passed,  I  have  fulfilled  these  Things,  and  put  them 
written  in  this  Book,  as  it  would  come  into  my  Mind,  the 
Year  of  Grace  1356,  in  the  34th  Year  that  I  departed  from 
our  Countries. 


202  MANDEVILLE 

Wherefore,  I  pray  to  all  the  Readers  and  Hearers  of  this 
Book,  if  it  please  them,  that  they  would  pray  to  God  for  me ; 
and  I  shall  pray  for  them.  And  all  those  that  say  for  me  a 
Pater  Noster,  with  an  Ave  Maria,  that  God  forgive  me  my 
Sins,  I  make  them  Partners,  and  grant  them  Part  of  all  the 
good  Pilgrimages  and  of  all  the  good  Deeds  that  I  have  done, 
if  any  be  to  His  Pleasure ;  and  not  only  of  those,  but  of  all 
that  ever  I  shall  do  unto  my  Life's  End.  And  I  beseech 
Almighty  God,  from  Whom  all  Goodness  and  Grace  cometh, 
that  He  vouchsafe  of  His  excellent  Mercy  and  abundant 
Grace,  to  fulfil  their  Souls  with  Inspiration  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  in  making  Defence  against  all  their  ghostly  Enemies 
here  on  Earth,  to  their  Salvation  both  of  Body  and  Soul ;  to 
the  Worship  and  Thanking  of  Him,  that  is  Three  in  One, 
without  Beginning  and  without  Ending ;  that  is  without 
Quality,  good,  and  without  Quantity,  great ;  that  in  all 
Places  is  Present,  and  all  Things  Containing ;  the  WTiich 
that  no  Goodness  may  amend,  nor  any  Evil  impair ;  that  in 
perfect  Trinity,  liveth  and  rcigneth,  God,  for  all  Worlds,  and 
for  all  Times ! 

Amen  !     Amen  !     Amen  ! 


END  OF  VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS 


KINGLAKE'S    EOTHEN 


Kinglake's 
Hothen 


The  World's 

Great  Books 

Committee 

of  Selection 

Thomas  B.  Reed 

William  R.  Harper 

Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives 

President  of  the 
University  of  Chicago 

Edward  Everett  Hale 

Ainsworth  R.  SpofFord 

Author  of  The  Man 
Without  a  Country 

Of  the  Congressional 
Library 

Rossiter 

Johnson 

Editor  of  Little  Classics  and  Editor-in-Chief  of  this  Series 

H 
J 


ALEXANDER    WILLIAM  KINGLAKE. 

Photogravure  from  a  photograph. 


E  o  t  h  e  n 

or  Traces  of  Travel  brought 
Home  from  the  East 

By 

Alexander  William  Kinglake 

With  a  Critical  and  Biographical  Introduction 
by  Jacques  W,  Redway 

Illustrated 


!%/ 


New  York 

D.  Appleton  and  Company 

1901 


Copyright,  1898, 
By  D.  APPLETON  AND   COMPANY. 


KINGLAKE'S   EOTHEN 


IT  is  remarkable  that  in  a  few  instances  only  has  the  pro- 
fessional geographer  enriched  the  world's  knowledge  of 
itself  and  its  environments  with  literature  that  has  ap- 
pealed to  the  popular  heart.  Within  the  past  two  genera- 
tions there  has  been  but  a  single  example  of  unusual  success, 
namely,  Dr.  David  Livingstone.  Nearly  all  the  books  of 
travel  and  exploration  that  have  been  both  useful  and  popular 
were  from  men  who  professed  neither  eminence  in  the  field 
of  geography,  nor  especial  aptitude  in  gathering  informa- 
tion. In  the  majority  of  instances  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  the  professional  writer  on  geographic  topics  might  resent 
the  idea  that  the  successful  book  had  any  value  whatever : 
perhaps  to  be  of  real  geographic  literature  it  ought  to  read 
something  after  the  manner  of  the  following  :  — 

"  On  nearing  the  Sejlefula,  I  entered  the  Matoka  country.  Where 
I  crossed  this  river  it  flows  through  a  picturesque  broken  country, 
down  a  rocky  bed.  Passing  three  or  four  Machili  tributaries,  an 
easterly  course  brought  me  to  tributaries  of  the  Nanzela  and  Kafukwe 
system,  which  soon  led  me  to  a  large  plain  3300  feet,  and  about  500 
feet  lower  than  the  plateau  I  had  left.  This  plain  was  swampy  and 
covered  with  mopani.  After  a  week's  wading  I  reached  the  'Nkala 
Mission  Station,  on  the  river  from  which  it  takes  its  name,  which  was 
founded  on  the  borders  of  the  Mashikolumbwe  country  by  two  Eng- 
lish missionaries,  Messrs.  Buckenham  and  Baldwin,  some  two  years 
previously,  in  Lat.  15°  53'  25"  S." 

And  still  the  various  geographic  publications  sometimes 
give  way  to  expressions  of  surprise,  because  so  little  public 
interest  is  aroused  by  the  literature  that  fills  them ! 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  literature  that  involves  nothing  beyond 
questions   of   geology  and   physiography,  of  metasomatosis 

15  iii 


IV  KINGLAKE'S   EOTHEN 

and  disastrophism,  appeals  to  those  only  whose  better  intellec- 
tual beings  have  long  been  shriveled  and  dried  up  for  want 
of  contact  with  the  human  side  of  the  world.  But  let  Mr. 
Dick  Smith  of  the  Daily  Rattler  tackle  the  problem,  and  half 
a  million  readers  will  look  with  expectancy  for  what  he  has 
to  say  —  and  they  will  not  be  disappointed.  A  reason  there- 
for is  not  hard  to  find.  Granted  that  he  is  a  bit  lacking  in 
his  knowledge  of  steam-corrasion  and  subcarboniferous 
strata,  he  knows  humanity  like  a  book,  and  he  has  absorbed, 
perhaps  unconsciously,  the  idea  that  people  are  what  they 
are  because  they  have  certain  surroundings  that  make  them 
what  they  are.  With  this  accomplishment,  Mr.  Dick  Smith 
is  a  power  within  himself  :  knowing  the  people  and  knowing 
the  powers  that  move  them,  he  can  talk  straight  to  the  popu- 
lar heart.  And  herein  lies  the  difference  between  him 
and  the  learned  Professor  Stuffemwell.  The  latter,  having 
lived  his  life  in  a  world  that  contains  nothing  but  paleozoic 
fossils,  makes  you  a  book  that  is  good,  but  as  dry  and  fossil- 
ized as  himself.  The  former  may  not  have  the  abstract 
quality  of  goodness,  but  he  is  never  open  to  the  charge  of 
stupidity. 

Hundreds  of  men,  bent  upon  shedding  black  seas  of  ink, 
from  time  to  time  have  invaded  the  Levant  and  the  East. 
Even  before  Alexander  William  Kinglake  was  born,  the 
path  was  well  beaten.  But  Mr.  Kinglake's  journey  marks 
an  epoch  in  descriptive  literature,  and  "  Eothen  "  will  always 
hold  a  foremost  place  as  a  literary  classic.  Indeed,  it  has 
long  been  a  model,  and  many  an  aspirant  who  has  under- 
taken the  self-imposed  difficulties  of  a  journey  in  the  East 
with  his  Baedeker  in  one  hand,  has  apparently  carried 
"  Eothen  "  in  the  other. 

It  is  true  that  Mr.  Kinglake  made  no  claim  to  geographic 
training ;  but  when  the  story  is  read,  one  is  conscious  of  hav- 
ing acquired  about  as  much  information  —  and  that  in  a  very 
pleasant  way  —  as  though  he  had  struggled  through  the 
mazy  intricacies  of  a  contribution  to  the  Geographical  Bul- 
letin. There  is  no  dissertation  about  topography ;  but  some- 
how or  other  one  gets  a  very  definite  mental  landscape  of 
the  country.  There  is  no  tabulated  statement  of  the  racial 
descent  of  the  peoples  among  whom  the  author  moves ;  but 


KINGLAKE'S   EOTHEN  V 

the  reader  is  quickly  at  home  among  those  same  peoples,  and 
enters  into  their  daily  life  almost  as  completely  as  though  in- 
tervening distance  had  been  annihilated. 

Perhaps  this  wonderful  power  to  bring  reader  and  subject 
into  such  close  communion  was  born  in  the  author.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  more  apparent  in  "Eothen"  than  in  his  less  pleasing 
"  Invasion  of  the  Crimea."  In  the  latter,  one  sees  the  trained 
scholar  of  Cambridge,  the  keen,  discriminating  barrister,  and 
the  world-wise  member  of  parliament.  But  in  "  Eothen," 
Cambridge  and  the  wig  are  put  aside.  There  is  just  the  plain 
Eton  boy  turned  loose  for  a  lark;  and  whether  we  follow 
him  through  the  Troad,  or  over  the  Syrian  desert,  he  is  the 
omniscient,  omnipresent  youngster  of  the  fourth  form,  enter- 
ing into  and  becoming  a  part  of  the  life  of  his  surroundings. 
Happy  for  his  readers  that  the  time  and  conditions  were  so 
ripe :  otherwise  "  Eothen  "  might  have  been  as  dry  as  a  con- 
sular report. 

It  was  written  with  reluctance  and  offered  to  the  public 
almost  with  an  apology.  But  for  every  person  that  has  read 
a  single  volume  of  the  "  Invasion  of  the  Crimea,"  probably  ten 
thousand  have  read  "Eothen."  In  the  perusal  of  the  former, 
we  gradually  get  a  suspicion  that  the  author  was  not  lack- 
ing in  that  useless  but  useful  organ  —  a  spleen ;  as  we 
proceed  the  dim  and  vague  suspicion  grows  to  absolute 
certainty;  and  when  the  author  has  fairly  launched  himself 
into  a  discussion  of  the  French  emperor  and  the  various  actors 
concerned  in  the  great  coup  d'etat,  his  spleen  is  capable  of 
such  astonishing  gymnastic  feats  that  we  are  a  trifle  in  doubt 
about  the  historical  value  of  the  work.  In  "  Eothen,"  however, 
there  is  but  a  single  instance  of  that  sort  of  temper  to  mar 
the  pleasure  one  derives  from  it.  The  author  goes  awk- 
wardly out  of  his  way  to  wreak  satire  upon  the  Hon.  Edward 
Everett,  whom  he  dignifies  with  the  title  of  "  an  enterprising 
American  traveler  "(in  1 841,  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the 
Court  of  St.  James),  but  having  reached  the  climax  of  calling 
the  country  "a  swindling  com.muniLy,"  the  ebullition  of  his 
wrath  subsides,  and  his  good  nature  is  resumed.  No  good 
American  will  ever  cavil  at  a  little  episode  like  this,  however ; 
it  is  not  the  author's  real  self,  it  is  only  a  bit  of  Tory  bile 
working  itself  off  by  a  vicarious  process. 


vi  KINGLAKE'S   EOTHEN 

Mr.  Kinglake's  life  may  be  summed  up  as  eventful  and  busy, 
but  not  sensational.  He  was  born  in  Taunton,  Aug.  5,  1809, 
and  received  his  preparatory  education  at  Eton  ;  entered  Trin- 
ity College,  Cambridge,  in  1828;  was  a  student  of  Lincoln's 
Inn  in  1832;  traveled  in  the  Levant  and  the  East  in  1835; 
entered  at  the  bar  in  1837,  and  quickly  achieved  a  large  and 
remunerative  practise.  He  was  with  the  English  forces 
during  the  Crimean  War,  and  this  led  to  the  authoritative 
and  critical  history  of  that  conflict,  the  eight  volumes  of  which 
appeared  at  intervals  between  1863  and  1887.  During  this 
time,  from  1857  to  1869,  he  was  a  member  of  parliament  for 
Bridgewater.  He  died  in  London  in  1891.  "Eothen"  ap- 
peared in  1844,  at  first  anonymously.  Its  success  was  instan- 
taneous, and  few  books  have  been  more  widely  read  either  in 
Europe  or  in  America. 

Routes  and  means  of  travel  have  changed  greatly  in  the 
half  century  since  "  Eothen  "  was  given  to  us.  Not  only  has 
the  railway  invaded  the  entire  country  from  the  North  Sea 
to  the  Golden  Horn,  but  the  snort  of  the  iron  horse  is  heard 
in  the  Holy  City  itself.  Little  by  little  the  caravan  and  the 
dragoman  are  disappearing:  they  are  retreating  into  the 
desert,  and  who  can  say  when  they,  too,  shall  be  nothing 
more  than  antiquities }  All  that  is  hallowed  about  the  Land 
is  becoming  overshadowed  by  the  hand  of  western  civilization. 
Electric  lights  profane  the  Pyramids ;  the  whir  of  the  tele- 
phone bell  is  heard  almost  within  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane ; 
and  the  bicycle  pervades  Damascus.  When  we  turn  in  dis- 
gust from  the  contemplation  of  these  things,  it  is  meet  and 
proper  to  turn  once  more  the  leaves  of  "Eothen,"  for  no 
matter  how  many  times  read,  it  will  always  be  a  welcome  pen 
picture  of  which  the  mind  never  tires. 

Jacques  W.  Redway. 


THE   AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 


WHEN  you  first  entertained  the  idea  of  traveling  in 
the  East,  you  asked  me  to  send  you  an  outline  of 
the  tour  which  I  had  made,  in  order  that  you  might 
the  better  be  able  to  choose  a  route  for  yourself.^  In  answer 
to  this  request,  I  gave  you  a  large  French  map,  on  which  the 
course  of  my  journeys  had  been  carefully  marked ;  but  I  did 
not  conceal  from  myself  that  this  was  rather  a  dry  mode  for 
a  man  to  adopt,  when  he  wished  to  impart  the  results  of  his 
experience  to  a  dear  and  intimate  friend.  Now,  long  before 
the  period  of  your  planning  an  Oriental  tour,  I  had  intended 
to  write  some  account  of  my  Eastern  travels.  I  had,  indeed, 
begun  the  task,  and  had  failed  ;  I  had  begun  it  a  second  time, 
and  failing  again,  had  abandoned  my  attempt  with  a  sensation 
of  utter  distaste.  I  was  unable  to  speak  out,  and  chiefly,  I  think, 
for  this  reason  —  that  I  knew  not  to  whom  I  was  speaking. 
It  might  be  you,  or,  perhaps,  our  Lady,  of  Bitterness,  who 
would  read  my  story ;  or  it  might  be  some  member  of  the 
Royal  Statistical  Society,  and  how  on  earth  was  I  to  write  in 
a  way  that  would  do  for  all  three  ? 

Well  —  your  request  for  a  sketch  of  my  tour  suggested  to 
me  the  idea  of  complying  with  your  wish  by  a  revival  of  my 
twice  abandoned  attempt.  I  tried,  and  the  pleasure  and  con- 
fidence which  I  felt  in  speaking  to  you  soon  made  my  task 
so  easy,  and  even  amusing,  that  after  a  while  (though  not  in 
time  for  your  tour)  I  completed  the  scrawl  from  which  this 
book  was  originally  printed. 

The  very  feeling,  however,  which  enabled  me  to  write  thus 
freely,  prevented  me  from  robing  my  thoughts  in  that  grave 
and  decorous  style  which  I  should  have  maintained  if  I  had 
professed  to  lecture  the  public.     Whilst  I  feigned  to  myself 

1  Addressed  to  one  of  his  friends. 


Vlll  EOTHEN 

that  you,  and  you  only,  were  listening,  I  could  not  by  possi- 
bility speak  very  solemnly.  Heaven  forbid  that  I  should  talk 
to  my  own  genial  friend  as  though  he  were  a  great  and  en- 
lightened community,  or  any  other  respectable  aggregate ! 

Yet  I  well  understood  that  the  mere  fact  of  my  professing 
to  speak  to  you  rather  than  to  the  public  generally  could  not 
perfectly  excuse  me  for  printing  a  narrative  too  roughly 
worded,  and  accordingly,  in  revising  the  proof  sheets,  I  have 
struck  out  those  phrases  which  seemed  to  be  less  fit  for  a 
published  volume  than  for  intimate  conversation.  It  is 
hardly  to  be  expected,  however,  that  correction  of  this  kind 
should  be  perfectly  complete,  or  that  the  almost  boisterous 
tone  in  which  many  parts  of  the  book  were  originally  written 
should  be  thoroughly  subdued.  I  venture  therefore,  to  ask, 
that  the  familiarity  of  language  still  possibly  apparent  in 
the  work,  may  be  laid  to  the  account  of  our  delightful  inti- 
macy, rather  than  to  any  presumptuous  motive  ;  I  feel,  as  you 
know,  much  too  timidly  —  too  distantly,  and  too  respectfully, 
towards  the  public  to  be  capable  of  seeking  to  put  myself  on 
terms  of  easy  fellowship  with  strange  and  casual  readers. 

It  is  right  to  forewarn  people  (and  I  have  tried  to  do  this 
as  well  as  I  can,  by  my  studiously  unpromising  title-page  ^) 
that  the  book  is  quite  superficial  in  its  character.  I  have  en- 
deavored to  discard  from  it  all  valuable  matter  derived  from 
the  works  of  others,  and  it  appears  to  me  that  my  efforts  in 
this  direction  have  been  attended  with  great  success ;  I  be- 
lieve I  may  truly  acknowledge,  that  from  all  details  of  geo- 
graphical discovery,  or  antiquarian  research — from  all  display 
of  "  sound  learning  and  religious  knowledge  "  —  from  all  his- 
torical and  scientific  illustrations  —  from  all  useful  statistics 
—  from  all  political  disquisitions  —  and  from  all  good  moral 
reflections,  the  volume  is  thoroughly  free. 

My  excuse  for  the  book  is  its  truth ;  you  and  I  know  a  man 
fond  of  hazarding  elaborate  jokes,  who,  whenever  a  story  of 
his  happens  not  to  go  down  as  wit,  will  evade  the  awkward- 
ness of  the  failure  by  bravely  maintaining  that  all  he  has  said 

^  "  Eothen  "  is,  I  hope,  almost  the  only  hard  word  to  be  found  in  the 
book  ;  it  is  written  in  Greek  ■^ddev,  —  (Attic^  with  an  aspirated  e  instead  of 
the  77,)  —  and  signifies  "from  the  early  dawn,"  "from  the  East."  —  Donn. 
Lex.,  /[th  edition. 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE  ix 

is  pure  fact.  I  can  honestly  take  this  decent  though  humble 
mode  of  escape.  My  narrative  is  not  merely  righteously  exact 
in  matters  of  fact  (where  fact  is  in  question),  but  it  is  true  in 
this  larger  sense  —  it  conveys  not  those  impressions  which 
ought  to  have  been  produced  upon  any  "  well-constituted 
mind,"  but  those  which  were  really  and  truly  received  at  the 
time  of  his  rambles,  by  a  headstrong  and  not  very  amiable 
traveler,  whose  prejudices  in  favor  of  other  people's  notions 
were  then  exceedingly  slight.  As  I  have  felt,  so  I  have  writ- 
ten ;  and  the  result  is,  that  there  will  often  be  found  in  my 
narrative  a  jarring  discord  between  the  associations  properly 
belonging  to  interesting  sites,  and  the  tone  in  which  I  speak 
of  them.  This  seemingly  perverse  mode  of  treating  the  sub- 
ject is  forced  upon  me  by  my  plan  of  adhering  to  sentimental 
truth,  and  really  does  not  result  from  any  impertinent  wish  to 
teaze  or  trifle  with  readers.  I  ought,  for  instance,  to  have 
felt  as  strongly  in  Judea  as  in  Galilee,  but  it  was  not  so  in 
fact;  the  religious  sentiment  (born  in  solitude)  which  had 
heated  my  brain  in  the  Sanctuary  of  Nazareth  was  rudely 
chilled  at  the  foot  of  Zion  by  disenchanting  scenes,  and  this 
change  is  accordingly  disclosed  by  the  perfectly  worldly  tone 
in  which  I  speak  of  Jerusalem  and  Bethlehem. 

My  notion  of  dwelling  precisely  upon  those  matters  which 
happened  to  interest  me,  and  upon  none  other,  would  of  course 
be  intolerable  in  a  regular  book  of  travels.  If  I  had  been 
passing  through  countries  not  previously  explored,  it  would 
have  been  sadly  perverse  to  withhold  careful  description  of 
admirable  objects,  merely  because  my  own  feelings  of  interest 
in  them  may  have  happened  to  flag ;  but  where  the  countries 
which  one  visits  have  been  thoroughly  and  ably  described,  and 
even  artistically  illustrated  by  others,  one  is  fully  at  liberty  to 
say  as  little  (though  not  quite  so  much)  as  one  chooses.  Now 
a  traveler  is  a  creature  not  always  looking  at  sights  —  he  re- 
members (how  often !)  the  happy  land  of  his  birth  —  he  has, 
too,  his  moments  of  humble  enthusiasm  about  fire  and  food 
—  about  shade  and  drink ;  and  if  he  gives  to  these  feelings 
anything  like  the  prominence  which  really  belonged  to  them 
at  the  time  of  his  traveling,  he  will  not  seem  a  very  good 
teacher :  once  having  determined  to  write  the  sheer  truth  con- 
cerning the  things  which  chiefly  have  interested  him,  he  must 


X  EOTHEN 

and  he  will  sing  a  sadly  long  strain  about  self ;  he  will  talk 
for  whole  pages  together  about  his  bivouac  fire,  and  ruin  the 
ruins  of  Baalbec  with  eight  or  ten  cold  lines. 

But  it  seems  to  me  that  the  egotism  of  a  traveler,  however 
incessant,  however  shameless  and  obtrusive,  must  still  con- 
vey some  true  ideas  of  the  country  through  which  he  has 
passed.  His  very  selfishness,  his  habit  of  referring  the 
whole  external  world  to  his  own  sensations,  compel  him,  as 
it  were,  in  his  writings,  to  observe  the  laws  of  perspective ;  — 
he  tells  you  of  objects,  not  as  he  knows  them  to  be,  but  as 
they  seemed  to  him.  The  people  and  the  things  that  most 
concern  him  personally,  however  mean  and  insignificant,  take 
large  proportions  in  his  picture,  because  they  stand  so  near 
to  him.  He  shows  you  his  dragomen,  and  the  gaunt  features 
of  his  Arabs  —  his  tent  —  his  kneeling  camels  —  his  baggage 
strewed  upon  the  sand ;  —  but  the  proper  wonders  of  the  land 
—  the  cities,  the  mighty  ruins  and  monuments  of  bygone 
ages  —  he  throws  back  faintly  in  the  distance.  It  is  thus  that 
he  felt,  and  thus  he  strives  to  repeat  the  scenes  of  the  elder 
world.  You  may  listen  to  him  forever  without  learning 
much  in  the  way  of  statistics ;  but  perhaps  if  you  bear  with 
him  long  enough,  you  may  find  yourself  slowly  and  slightly 
impressed  with  the  realities  of  Eastern  travel. 

My  scheme  of  refusing  to  dwell  upon  matters  which  failed 
to  interest  my  own  feelings,  has  been  departed  from  in  one 
instance  —  namely,  in  my  detail  of  the  late  Lady  Hester 
Stanhope's  conversation  on  supernatural  topics ;  the  truth  is, 
that  I  have  been  much  questioned  on  this  subject,  and  I 
thought  that  my  best  plan  would  be  to  write  down  at  once 
all  that  I  could  ever  have  to  say  concerning  the  personage 
whose  career  has  excited  so  much  curiosity  amongst  English- 
women. The  result  is,  that  my  account  of  the  lady  goes  to 
a  length  which  is  not  justified  either  by  the  importance  of 
the  subject,  or  by  the  extent  to  which  it  interested  the  nar- 
rator. 

You  will  see  that  I  constantly  speak  of  "my  people,"  "my 
party,"  "my  Arabs,"  and  so  on,  using  terms  which  might 
possibly  seem  to  imply  that  I  moved  about  with  a  pompous 
retinue.  This  of  course  was  not  the  case.  I  traveled  with 
the  simplicity  proper  to  my  station,  as  one  of  the  industrious 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE  xi 

class,  who  was  not  flying  from  his  country  because  of  ennui, 
but  was  strengthening  his  will,  and  tempering  the  metal  of 
his  nature  for  that  life  of  toil  and  conflict  in  which  he  is  now 
engaged.  But  an  Englishman  journeying  in  the  East,  must 
necessarily  have  with  him  dragomen  capable  of  interpreting 
the  Oriental  language ;  the  absence  of  wheeled-carriages 
obliges  him  to  use  several  beasts  of  burden  for  his  baggage, 
as  well  as  for  himself  and  his  attendants ;  the  owners  of  the 
horses  or  camels,  with  their  slaves  or  servants,  fall  in  as  part 
of  his  train,  and  altogether  the  cavalcade  becomes  rather 
numerous,  without,  however,  occasioning  any  proportionate 
increase  of  expense.  When  a  traveler  speaks  of  all  these 
followers  in  mass,  he  calls  them  his  "people,"  or  his  "troop," 
or  his  "  party,"  without  intending  to  make  you  believe  that 
he  is  therefore  a  sovereign  prince. 

You  will  see  that  I  sometimes  follow  the  custom  of  the 
Scots  in  describing  my  fellow-countrymen  by  the  names  of 
their  paternal  homes. 

Of  course  all  these  explanations  are  meant  for  casual 
readers.  To  you,  without  one  syllable  of  excuse  or  depre- 
cation, and  in  all  the  confidence  of  a  friendship  that  never 
yet  was  clouded,  I  give  this  long-promised  volume,  and  add 
but  one  sudden  "  Good-by !  "  for  I  dare  not  stand  greeting 
you  here. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

rACB 

Over  the  Border i 

CHAPTER  H 
Journey  from  Belgrade  to  Constantinople ii 

CHAPTER  HI 
Constantinople 23 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Troad 31 

CHAPTER  V 
Infidel  Smyrna 37 

CHAPTER   VI 
Greek  Mariners 47 

CHAPTER   VII 
Cyprus 55 

CHAPTER   VIII 
Lady  Hester  Stanhope 6l 

CHAPTER    IX 
The  Sanctuary 83 

CHAPTER    X 
The  Monks  of  the  Holy  Land 86 

CHAPTER   XI 

From  Nazareth  to  Tiberias 92 

xiii 


xiv  '  EOTHEN 

CHAPTER   XII 

FAGB 

My  First  Bivouac 96 

CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Dead  Sea 103 

CHAPTER   XIV 
The  Black  Tents 108 

CHAPTER   XV 
Passage  of  the  Jordan iii 

CHAPTER   XVI 
Terra  Santa "6 

CHAPTER   XVII 
The  Desert 131 

CHAPTER   XVIII 
Cairo  and  the  Plague 151 

CHAPTER  XIX 
The  Pyramids ^73 

CHAPTER   XX 
The  Sphinx 176 

CHAPTER  XXI 
Cairo  to  Suez •     178 

CHAPTER   XXII 
Suez 185 

CHAPTER   XXIII 
Suez  to  Gaza 19® 

CHAPTER   XXIV 
Gaza  to  Nablous       ..#•••••••     19^ 


CONTENTS  xy 


CHAPTER   XXV 

PAGB 

Mariam 2cx3 

CHAPTER   XXVI 
The  Prophet  Damoor 207 

CHAPTER   XXVn 
Damascus 211 

CHAPTER   XXVHI 
Pass  of  the  Lebanon 218 

CHAPTER   XXIX 
Surprise  of  Satalieh 222 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING   PAGB 

Alexander  William  Kinglake       .       .       .         Frontispiece 
Photogravure  from  a  photograph 

Tiberias  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee 94 

Photogravure  from  a  painting  by  Harry  Fenn 

Pyramids  of  Gizeh 174 

Photogravure  from  a  painting  by  J.  Douglas  Woodward 

A  Street  in  Damascus 212 

Photogravure  from  a  painting  by  Charles  Werner 

xvii 


EOTHEN 


CHAPTER   I 

Over  the  Border 

AT  Semlin  I  still  was  encompassed  by  the  scenes  and  the 
sounds  of  familiar  life ;  the  din  of  a  busy  world  still 
.  vexed  and  cheered  me ;  the  unveiled  faces  of  women 
still  shone  in  the  light  of  day.  Yet,  whenever  I  chose  to  look 
southward,  I  saw  the  Ottoman's  fortress  —  austere,  and  darkly 
impending  over  the  vale  of  the  Danube  —  historic  Belgrade.  I 
had  come,  as  it  were,  to  the  end  of  this  wheel-going  Europe,  and 
now  my  eyes  would  see  the  Splendor  and  Havoc  of  the  East. 
The  two  frontier  towns  are  less  than  a  cannon-shot  distant, 
and  yet  their  people  hold  no  communion.  The  Hungarian  on 
the  North,  and  the  Turk  and  Servian  on  the  southern  side  of 
the  Save,  are  as  much  asunder  as  though  there  were  fifty  broad 
provinces  that  lay  in  the  path  between  them.  Of  the  men 
that  bustled  around  me  in  the  streets  of  Semlin,  there  was  not, 
perhaps,  one  who  had  ever  gone  down  to  look  upon  the  stran- 
ger race  which  dwells  under  the  walls  of  that  opposite  castle. 
It  is  the  Plague,  and  the  dread  of  the  Plague,  which  divide 
the  one  people  from  the  other.  All  coming  and  going  stands 
forbidden  by  the  terrors  of  the  yellow  flag.  If  you  dare  to 
break  the  laws  of  the  quarantine,  you  will  be  tried  with  mili- 
tary haste  ;  the  court  will  scream  out  your  sentence  to  you 
from  a  tribunal  some  fifty  yards  off;  the  priest,  instead  oi 
gently  whispering  to  you  the  sweet  hopes  of  religion,  will 
console  you  a  dueling  distance,  and  after  that  you  will  find 
yourself  carefully  shot,  and  carelessly  buried  in  the  ground 
of  the  Lazaretto. 

When  all  was  in  order  for  our  departure,  we  walked  down 

l6  I 


2  KINGLAKE 

to  the  precincts  of  the  Quarantine  Establishment,  and  here 
awaited  us  a  "compromised"^  officer  of  the  Austrian  Gov- 
ernment, who  lives  in  a  state  of  perpetual  excommunication. 
The  boats,  with  their  "  compromised  "  rowers,  were  also  in 
readiness. 

After  coming  in  contact  with  any  creature  or  thing  belong- 
ing to  the  Ottoman  Empire,  it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to 
return  to  the  Austrian  territory  without  undergoing  an  im- 
prisonment of  fourteen  days  in  the  odious  Lazaretto ;  we  felt, 
therefore,  that  before  we  committed  ourselves,  it  was  highly 
important  to  take  care  that  none  of  the  arrangements  neces- 
sary for  the  journey  had  been  forgotten,  and  in  our  anxiety 
to  avoid  such  a  misfortune,  we  managed  the  work  of  depar- 
ture from  Semlin  with  nearly  as  much  solemnity  as  if  we  had 
been  departing  this  life.  Some  obliging  persons,  from  whom 
we  had  received  civilities  during  our  short  stay  in  the  place, 
came  down  to  say  their  farewell  at  the  river's  side ;  and  now, 
as  we  stood  with  them  at  the  distance  of  three  or  four  yards 
from  the  "  compromised  "  officer,  they  asked  if  we  Vere  per- 
fectly certain  that  we  had  wound  up  all  our  affairs  in  Christen- 
dom, and  whether  we  had  no  parting  requests  to  make.  We 
repeated  the  caution  to  our  servants,  and  took  anxious  thought 
lest  by  any  possibility  we  might  be  cut  off  from  some  cher- 
ished object  of  affection  :  were  they  quite  sure  that  there 
was  no  faithful  portmanteau  —  no  patient  and  long-suffering 
carpetbag  —  no  fragrant  dressing-case  with  its  gold-compel- 
ling letters  of  credit  from  which  we  might  be  parting  forever } 
No  —  all  these  our  loved  ones  lay  safely  stowed  in  the  boat, 
and  we  were  ready  to  follow  them  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
Now,  therefore,  we  shook  hands  with  our  Semlin  friends,  who 
immediately  retreated  for  three  or  four  paces,  so  as  to  leave 
us  in  the  center  of  a  space  between  them  and  the  "  compro- 
mised "  officer ;  the  latter  then  advanced,  and  asking  once 
more  if  we  had  done  with  the  civilized  world,  held  forth  his 
hand  —  I  met  it  with  mine,  and  there  was  an  end  to  Christen- 
dom for  many  a  day  to  come. 

^  A  "  compromised  "  person  is  one  who  has  been  in  contact  with  people 
or  things  supposed  to  be  capable  of  conveying  infection.  As  a  general  rule 
the  whole  Ottoman  Empire  lies  constantly  under  this  terrible  ban.  The 
"  yellow  flag"  is  the  ensign  of  the  Quarantine  Establishment. 


EOTHEN  3 

We  soon  neared  the  southern  bank  of  the  river,  but  no 
sounds  came  down  from  the  blank  walls  above,  and  there  was 
no  living  thing  that  we  could  yet  see,  except  one  great  hover- 
ing bird  of  the  vulture  race,  flying  low,  and  intent,  and  wheel- 
ing round  and  round  over  the  Pest-accused  city. 

But  presently  there  issued  from  the  postern  a  group  of 
human  beings,  —  beings  with  immortal  souls,  and  possibly 
some  reasoning  faculties,  but  to  me  the  grand  point  was  this, 
that  they  had  real,  substantial,  and  incontrovertible  turbans ; 
they  made  for  the  point  toward  which  we  were  steering,  and 
when  at  last  I  sprang  upon  the  shore,  I  heard,  and  saw  my- 
self now  first  surrounded  by  men  of  Asiatic  race ;  I  have 
since  ridden  through  the  land  of  the  Osmanlees,  from  the 
Servian  Border  to  the  Golden  Horn,  —  from  the  gulf  of 
Satalieh  to  the  tomb  of  Achilles ;  but  never  have  I  seen  such 
ultra-Turkish-looking  fellows  as  those  who  received  me  on 
the  banks  of  the  Save ;  they  were  men  in  the  humblest  order 
of  life,  having  come  to  meet  our  boat  in  the  hope  of  earning 
something  by  carrying  our  luggage  up  to  the  city,  but  poor 
though  they  were,  it  was  plain  that  they  were  Turks  of  the 
proud  old  school,  and  had  not  yet  forgotten  the  fierce,  care- 
less bearing  of  the  once  victorious  Ottomans. 

Though  the  province  of  Servia  generally  has  obtained  a 
kind  of  independence,  yet  Belgrade,  as  being  a  place  of 
strength  on  the  frontier,  is  still  garrisoned  by  Turkish  troops, 
under  the  command  of  a  Pasha.  Whether  the  fellows  who 
now  surrounded  us  were  soldiers,  or  peaceful  inhabitants,  I 
did  not  understand ;  they  wore  the  old  Turkish  costume : 
vests  and  jackets  of  many  brilliant  colors  divided  from  the 
loose  petticoat-trousers  by  masses  of  shawl,  which  were 
folded  in  heavy  volumes  around  their  waists,  so  as  to  give  the 
meager  wearers  something  of  the  dignity  of  true  corpulence. 
The  shawl  enclosed  a  whole  bundle  of  weapons ;  no  man  bore 
less  than  one  brace  of  immensely  long  pistols,  and  a  yataghan 
(or  cutlass),  with  a  dagger  or  two,  of  various  shapes  and 
sizes ;  most  of  these  arms  were  inlaid  with  silver,  and  highly 
burnished,  so  that  they  contrasted  shiningly  with  the  decayed 
grandeur  of  the  garments  to  which  they  were  attached  (this 
carefulness  of  his  arms  is  a  point  of  honor  with  the  Osmanlee, 
who  never  allows  his  bright  yataghan  to  suffer  from  his  own 


4  KINGLAKE 

adversity);  then  the  long  drooping  mustaches,  and  the  am- 
ple folds  of  the  once  white  turbans,  that  lowered  over  the 
piercing  eyes,  and  the  haggard  features  of  the  men,  gave 
them  an  air  of  gloomy  pride,  and  that  appearance  of  trying 
to  be  disdainful  under  difficulties,  which  I  have  since  seen 
so  often  in  those  of  the  Ottoman  people  who  live,  and  re- 
member old  times ;  they  seem  as  if  they  were  thinking  that 
they  would  have  been  more  usefully,  more  honorably,  and 
more  piously  employed  in  cutting  our  throats,  than  in  carry- 
ing our  portmanteaus.  The  faithful  Steel  (Methley's  York- 
shire servant)  stood  aghast  for  a  moment  at  the  sight  of  his 
master's  luggage  upon  the  shoulders  of  these  warlike  porters, 
and  when  at  last  we  began  to  move  up,  he  could  scarcely 
avoid  turning  round  to  cast  an  affectionate  look  toward 
Christendom ;  but  quickly  again  he  marched  on  with  the  steps 
of  a  man,  not  frightened  exactly,  but  sternly  prepared  for 
death,  or  the  Koran,  or  even  for  plural  wives. 

The  Moslem  quarter  of  a  city  is  lonely  and  desolate ;  you 
go  up  and  down,  and  on  over  shelving  and  hillocky  paths 
through  the  narrow  lanes  walled  in  by  blank,  windowless 
dwellings ;  you  come  out  upon  an  open  space  strewed  with 
the  black  ruins  that  some  late  fire  has  left ;  you  pass  by  a 
mountain  of  castaway  things,  the  rubbish  of  centuries,  and 
on  it  you  see  numbers  of  big,  wolf-like  dogs  lying  torpid 
under  the  sun,  with  limbs  outstretched  to  the  full,  as  if  they 
were  dead ;  storks,  or  cranes,  sitting  fearless  upon  the  low 
roofs,  look  gravely  down  upon  you ;  the  still  air  that  you 
breathe  is  loaded  with  the  scent  of  citron,  and  pomegranate 
rinds  scorched  by  the  sun,  or  (as  you  approach  the  Bazaar) 
with  the  dry,  dead  perfume  of  strange  spices.  You  long  for 
some  signs  of  life,  and  tread  the  ground  more  heavily,  as 
though  you  would  wake  the  sleepers  with  the  heel  of  your 
boot ;  but  the  foot  falls  noiseless  upon  the  crumbling  soil  of 
an  eastern  city,  and  Silence  follows  you  still.  Again  and 
again  you  meet  turbans,  and  faces  of  men,  but  they  have 
nothing  for  you  —  no  welcome  —  no  wonder  —  no  wrath  — 
no  scorn  —  they  look  upon  you  as  we  do  upon  a  December's 
fall  of  snow  —  as  a  "  seasonable,"  unaccountable,  uncomfor- 
table work  of  God,  that  may  have  been  sent  for  some  good 
purpose,  to  be  revealed  hereafter. 


EOTHEN  5 

Some  people  had  come  down  to  meet  us  with  an  invitation 
from  the  Pasha,  and  we  wound  our  way  up  to  the  castle.  At 
the  gates  there  were  groups  of  soldiers,  some  smoking,  and 
some  lying  flat  like  corpses  upon  the  cool  stones ;  we  went 
through  courts,  ascended  steps,  passed  along  a  corridor,  and 
walked  into  an  airy,  whitewashed  room,  with  a  European 
clock  at  one  end  of  it,  and  Moostapha  Pasha  at  the  other; 
the  fine,  old,  bearded  potentate  looked  very  like  Jove  —  like 
Jove,  too,  in  the  midst  of  his  clouds,  for  the  silvery  fumes  of 
the  Narguile  ^  hung  lightly  circling  round  him. 

The  Pasha  received  us  with  the  smooth,  kind,  gentle  man- 
ner that  belongs  to  well-bred  Osmanlees ;  then  he  lightly 
clapped  his  hands,  and  instantly  the  sound  filled  all  the  lower 
end  of  the  room  with  slaves ;  a  syllable  dropped  from  his 
lips  which  bowed  all  heads,  and  conjured  away  the  attendants 
like  ghosts  (their  coming  and  their  going  was  thus  swift  and 
quiet,  because  their  feet  were  bare,  and  they  passed  through 
no  door,  but  only  by  the  yielding  folds  of  a  purdah).  Soon 
the  coffee  bearers  appeared,  every  man  carrying  separately 
his  tiny  cup  in  a  small  metal  stand,  and  presently  to  each  of 
us  there  came  a  pipe  bearer,  who  first  rested  the  bowl  of  the 
tchibouque  at  a  measured  distance  on  the  floor,  and  then,  on 
this  axis,  wheeled  round  the  long  cherry-stick,  and  gracefully 
presented  it  on  half-bended  knee ;  already  the  well-kindled 
fire  was  glowing  secure  in  the  bowl,  and  so,  when  I  pressed 
the  amber  lip  to  mine,  there  was  no  coyness  to  conquer:  the 
willing  fume  came  up,  and  answered  my  slightest  sigh,  and 
followed  softly  every  breath  inspired,  till  it  touched  me  with 
some  faint  sense  and  understanding  of  Asiatic  contentment.^ 

Asiatic  contentment !  Yet  scarcely,  perhaps,  one  hour  be- 
fore I  had  been  wanting  my  bill,  and  ringing  for  waiters  in 
a  shrill  and  busy  hotel. 

In  the  Ottoman  dominions  there  is  scarcely  any  hereditary 

^  The  Narguil^  is  a  water-pipe  upon  the  plan  of  the  Hookah,  but  more 
gracefully  fashioned ;  the  smoke  is  drawn  by  a  very  long  flexible  tube  that 
winds  its  snakelike  way  from  the  vase  to  the  lips  of  the  beatified  smoker. 

2  Fine  talking  this,  you  will  say,  for  one  who  can't  smoke  a  cigar ;  but 
ask  any  Eastern  traveler  if  it  is  not  quite  possible  to  love  the  tchibouque, 
and  the  Narguil^,  without  being  able  to  endure  the  European  contrivances 
for  smoking. 


6  KINGLAKE 

influence  except  that  which  belongs  to  the  family  of  the 
Sultan,  and  wealth,  too,  is  a  highly  volatile  blessing,  not  easily 
transmitted  to  the  descendants  of  the  owner.  From  these 
causes  it  results,  that  the  people  standing  in  the  place  of 
nobles  and  gentry  are  official  personages,  and  though  many 
(indeed  the  greater  number)  of  these  potentates  are  humbly 
born  and  bred,  you  will  seldom,  I  think,  find  them  wanting 
in  that  polished  smoothness  of  manner,  and  those  well-undu- 
lating tones  which  belong  to  the  best  Osmanlees.  The  truth 
is,  that  most  of  the  men  in  authority  have  risen  from  their 
humble  stations  by  the  arts  of  the  courtier,  and  they  preserve 
in  their  high  estate  those  gentle  powers  of  fascination  to 
which  they  owe  their  success.  Yet  unless  you  can  contrive 
to  learn  a  little  of  the  language,  you  will  be  rather  bored  by 
your  visits  of  ceremony ;  the  intervention  of  the  interpreter, 
or  Dragoman  as  he  is  called,  is  fatal  to  the  spirit  of  conversa- 
tion. I  think  I  should  mislead  you,  if  I  were  to  attempt  to 
give  the  substance  of  any  particular  conversation  with  Ori- 
entals. A  traveler  may  write  and  say  that,  "the  Pasha  of 
So-and-So  was  particularly  interested  in  the  vast  progress 
which  has  been  made  in  the  application  of  steam,  and  ap- 
peared to  understand  the  structure  of  our  machinery  —  that 
he  remarked  upon  the  gigantic  results  of  our  manufacturing 
industry — showed  that  he  possessed  considerable  knowledge 
of  our  Indian  affairs,  and  of  the  constitution  of  the  Company, 
and  expressed  a  lively  admiration  of  the  many  sterling  quali- 
ties for  which  the  people  of  England  are  distinguished."  But 
the  heap  of  commonplaces  thus  quietly  attributed  to  the 
Pasha  will  have  been  founded  perhaps  on  some  such  talking 
as  this :  — 

Pasha.  — The  Englishman  is  welcome ;  most  blessed  among 
hours  is  this,  the  hour  of  his  coming. 

Dragoman  (to  the  Traveler).  —  The  Pasha  pays  you  his 
compliments. 

Traveler.  —  Give  him  my  best  compliments  in  return,  and 
say  I'm  delighted  to  have  the  honor  of  seeing  him. 

Dragoman  (to  the  Pasha).  —  His  Lordship,  this  English- 
man, Lord  of  London,  Scorner  of  Ireland,  Suppressor  of 
France,  has  quitted  his  governments,  and  left  his  enemies  to 
breathe  for  a  moment,  and  has  crossed  the  broad  waters  in 


EOTHEN  7 

Strict  disguise,  with  a  small  but  eternally  faithful  retinue  of 
followers,  in  order  that  he  might  look  upon  the  bright  coun- 
tenance of  the  Pasha  among  Pashas  —  the  Pasha  of  the  ever- 
lasting Pashalik  of  Karagholookoldour. 

Traveler  (to  his  Dragoman).  —  What  on  earth  have  you 
been  saying  about  London  ?  The  Pasha  will  be  taking  me 
for  a  mere  cockney.  Have  not  I  told  you  always  to  say,  that 
I  am  from  a  branch  of  the  family  of  Mudcombe  Park,  and 
that  I  am  to  be  a  magistrate  for  the  county  of  Bedfordshire, 
only  I've  not  qualified,  and  that  I  should  have  been  a  Deputy 
Lieutenant,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  extraordinary  conduct 
of  Lord  Mountpromise,  and  that  I  was  a  candidate  for  Gold- 
borough  at  the  last  election,  and  that  I  should  have  won  easy, 
if  my  committee  had  not  been  bought.  I  wish  to  heaven  that 
if  you  do  say  anything  about  me,  you'd  tell  the  simple  truth. 

Dragoman —  [is  silent]. 

Pasha.  —  What  says  the  friendly  Lord  of  London  ?  Is  there 
aught  that  I  can  grant  him  within  the  Pashalik  of  Karagho- 
lookoldour .'' 

Dragoman  (growing  sulky  and  literal).  —  This  friendly 
Englishman  —  this  branch  of  Mudcombe  —  this  head  pur- 
veyor of  Goldborough  —  this  possible  policeman  of  Bedford- 
shire is  recounting  his  achievements  and  the  number  of  his 
titles. 

Pasha.  — The  end  of  his  honors  is  more  distant  than  the 
ends  of  the  Earth,  and  the  catalogue  of  his  glorious  deeds  is 
brighter  than  the  firmament  of  heaven  ! 

Dragoman  (to  the  Traveler).  —  The  Pasha  congratulates 
your  Excellency. 

Traveler.  —  About  Goldborough  }  The  deuce  he  does  !  — 
but  I  want  to  get  at  his  views,  in  relation  to  the  present 
state  of  the  Ottoman  Empire ;  tell  him  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment have  met,  and  that  there  has  been  a  Speech  from  the 
throne,  pledging  England  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the 
Sultan's  dominions. 

Dragoman  (to  the  Pasha).  —  This  branch  of  Mudcombe, 
this  possible  policeman  of  Bedfordshire,  informs  your  High- 
ness that  in  England  the  talking  houses  have  met,  and  that 
the  integrity  of  the  Sultan's  dominions  has  been  assured  for- 
ever and  ever  by  a  speech  from  the  velvet  chair. 


8  KINGLAKE 

Pasha. — Wonderful  chair!  Wonderful  houses!  —  whir! 
whir!  all  by  wheels!  —  whiz!  whiz!  all  by  steam! — won- 
derful chair!  wonderful  houses!  wonderful  people  !  —  whir! 
whir !  all  by  wheels  !  —  whiz  !  whiz  !  all  by  steam  ! 

Traveler  (to  the  Dragoman).  — What  does  the  Pasha  mean 
by  the  whizzing?  He  does  not  mean  to  say,  does  he,  that  our 
Government  will  ever  abandon  their  pledges  to  the  Sultan  ? 

Dragoman.  —  No,  your  Excellency  ;  but  he  says  the  Eng- 
lish talk  by  wheels  and  by  steam. 

Traveler.  —  That's  an  exaggeration  ;  but  say  that  the  Eng- 
lish really  have  carried  machinery  to  great  perfection ;  tell 
the  Pasha  (he'll  be  struck  with  that),  that  whenever  we  have 
any  disturbances  to  put  down,  even  at  two  or  three  hundred 
miles  from  London,  we  can  send  troops  by  the  thousand,  to 
the  scene  of  action,  in  a  few  hours. 

Dragoman  (recovering  his  temper  and  freedom  of  speech). 
—  His  Excellency,  this  Lord  of  Mudcombe,  observes  to  your 
Highness,  that  whenever  the  Irish  or  the  French  or  the 
Indians  rebel  against  the  English,  whole  armies  of  soldiers, 
and  brigades  of  artillery,  are  dropped  into  a  mighty  chasm 
called  Euston  Square,  and  in  the  biting  of  a  cartridge  they 
arise  up  again  in  Manchester,  or  Dublin,  or  Paris,  or  Delhi, 
and  utterly  exterminate  the  enemies  of  England  from  the  face 
of  the  earth. 

Pasha. — I  know  it — I  know  all  —  the  particulars  have 
been  faithfully  related  to  me,  and  my  mind  comprehends 
locomotives.  The  armies  of  the  English  ride  upon  the  vapors 
of  boiling  caldrons,  and  their  horses  are  flaming  coals !  — 
whir  !  whir  !  all  by  wheels  !  —  whiz  !  whiz  !  all  by  steam  ! 

Traveler  (to  his  Dragoman).  —  I  wish  to  have  the  opinion 
of  an  unprejudiced  Ottoman  gentleman,  as  to  the  prospects 
of  our  English  commerce  and  manufactures ;  just  ask  the 
Pasha  to  give  me  his  views  on  the  subject. 

Pasha  (after  having  received  the  communication  of  the 
Dragoman).  —  The  ships  of  the  English  swarm  like  flies ; 
their  printed  calicoes  cover  the  whole  earth,  and  by  the  side 
of  their  swords  the  blades  of  Damascus  are  blades  of  grass. 
All  India  is  but  an  item  in  the  Ledger-books  of  the  Mer- 
chants, whose  lumber-rooms  are  filled  with  ancient  thrones  !  — 
whir !  whir  !  all  by  wheels !  —  whiz !  whiz !  all  by  steam ! 


EOTHEN  9 

Dragoman.  —  The  Pasha  compliments  the  cutlery  of  Eng- 
land and  also  the  East  India  Company. 

Traveler.  —  The  Pasha's  right  about  the  cutlery  (I  tried  my 
simitar  with  the  common  officers'  swords  belonging  to  our 
fellows  at  Malta,  and  they  cut  it  like  the  leaf  of  a  Novel). 
Well  (to  the  Dragoman),  tell  the  Pasha  I  am  exceedingly 
gratified  to  find  that  he  entertains  such  a  high  opinion  of  our 
manufacturing  energy,  but  I  should  like  him  to  know,  though, 
that  we  have  got  something  in  England  besides  that.  These 
foreigners  are  always  fancying  that  we  have  nothing  but  ships, 
and  railways,  and  East  India  Companies ;  do  just  tell  the 
Pasha  that  our  rural  districts  deserve  his  attention,  and  that 
even  within  the  last  two  hundred  years,  there  has  been  an 
evident  improvement  in  the  culture  of  the  turnip,  and  if  he 
does  not  take  any  interest  about  that,  at  all  events  you  can 
explain  that  we  have  our  virtues  in  the  country  —  that  the 
British  yeoman  is  still,  thank  God !  the  British  yeoman. 
Oh !  and  by  the  by,  whilst  you  are  about  it,  you  may  as  well 
say  that  we  are  a  truth-telling  people,  and,  like  the  Osman- 
lees,  are  faithful  in  the  performance  of  our  promises. 

Pasha  (after  hearing  the  Dragoman).  —  It  is  true,  it  is  true : 
through  all  Feringhistan  the  English  are  foremost  and  best ; 
for  the  Russians  are  drilled  swine,  and  the  Germans  are 
sleeping  babes,  and  the  Italians  are  the  servants  of  Songs,  and 
the  French  are  the  sons  of  Newspapers,  and  the  Greeks  they 
are  weavers  of  lies,  but  the  English  and  the  Osmanlees  are 
brothers  together  in  righteousness ;  for  the  Osmanlees  believe 
in  one  only  God,  and  cleave  to  the  Koran,  and  destroy  idols ; 
so  do  the  English  worship  one  God,  and  abominate  graven 
images,  and  tell  the  truth,  and  believe  in  a  book,  and  though 
they  drink  the  juice  of  the  grape,  yet  to  say  that  they  worship 
their  prophet  as  God,  or  to  say  that  they  are  eaters  of  pork, 
these  are  lies,  —  lies  born  of  Greeks,  and  nursed  by  Jews ! 

Dragoman.  —  The  Pasha  compliments  the  English. 

Traveler  (rising).  —  Well,  I've  had  enough  of  this.  Tell 
the  Pasha  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  him  for  his  hospitality, 
and  still  more  for  his  kindness  in  furnishing  me  with  horses, 
and  say  that  now  I  must  be  off. 

Pasha  (after  hearing  the  Dragoman,  and  standing  up  on 
his  Divan).  —  Proud  are  the  sires,  and  blessed  are  the  dams 


lO  KINGLAKE 

of  the  horses  that  shall  carry  his  Excellency  to  the  end  of 
his  prosperous  journey.  —  May  the  saddle  beneath  him  glide 
down  to  the  gates  of  the  happy  city,  like  a  boat  swimming  on 
the  third  river  of  Paradise.  —  May  he  sleep  the  sleep  of  a 
child,  when  his  friends  are  around  him,  and  the  while  that 
his  enemies  are  abroad,  may  his  eyes  flame  red  through  the 
darkness  —  more  red  than  the  eyes  of  ten  tigers  !  —  farewell ! 

Dragoman.  —  The  Pasha  wishes  your  Excellency  a  pleasant 
journey. 

So  ends  the  visit. 


CHAPTER   II 

Journey  from  Belgrade  to  Constantinople 

IN  two  or  three  hours  our  party  was  ready ;  the  servants, 
the  Tatars,  the  mounted  Suridgees,  and  the  baggage 
horses  altogether  made  up  a  strong  cavalcade.  The 
accomplished  Mysseri  of  whom  you  have  heard  me  speak  so 
often,  and  who  served  me  so  faithfully  throughout  my 
Oriental  journeys,  acted  as  our  interpreter,  and  was,  in  fact, 
the  brain  of  our  corps.  The  Tatar,  you  know,  is  a  govern- 
ment courier  properly  employed  in  carrying  despatches,  but 
also  sent  with  travelers  to  speed  them  on  their  way,  and 
answer  with  his  head  for  their  safety.  The  man  whose  head 
was  thus  pledged  for  our  precious  lives  was  a  glorious-looking 
fellow,  with  the  regular  and  handsome  cast  of  countenance 
which  is  now  characteristic  of  the  Ottoman  race.^  His 
features  displayed  a  good  deal  of  serene  pride,  self-respect, 
fortitude,  a  kind  of  ingenuous  sensuality,  and  something  of 
instinctive  wisdom,  without  any  sharpness  of  intellect.  He 
had  been  a  Janissary  (as  I  afterwards  found),  and  kept  up 
the  odd  strut  of  his  old  corps,  which  used  to  affright  the 
Christians  in  former  times  ;  — that  rolling  gait  is  so  comically 
pompous,  that  a  close  imitation  of  it,  even  in  the  broadest 
farce,  would  be  looked  upon  as  a  very  rough  overacting  of 
the  character.  It  is  occasioned  in  part  by  the  dress  and 
accouterments.  The  heavy  bundle  of  weapons  carried  upon 
the  chest  throws  back  the  body  so  as  to  give  it  a  wonderful 
portliness,  whilst  the  immense  masses  of  clothes  that  swathe 
his  limbs  force  the  wearer  in  walking  to  swing  himself 
heavily  round  from  left  to  right,  and  from  right  to  left  —  in 
truth,  this  great  edifice  of  woolen,  and  cotton,  and  silk,  and 
silver,  and  brass,  and  steel  is  not  at  all  fitted  for  moving  on 

^  The  continual  marriages  of  these  people  with  the  chosen  beauties  of 
Georgia  and  Circassia  have  overpowered  the  original  ugliness  of  their 
Tatar  ancestors. 


12  KINGLAKE 

foot  ;  it  cannot  even  walk  without  ludicrously  deranging  its 
architectural  proportions,  and  as  to  running,  I  once  saw  our 
Tatar  make  an  attempt  at  that  laborious  exercise,  in  order 
to  pick  up  a  partridge  which  Methley  had  winged  with  a 
pistol-shot,  and  really  the  attempt  was  one  of  the  funniest 
misdirections  of  human  energy  that  I  ever  beheld.  It  used 
to  be  said,  that  a  good  man,  struggling  with  adversity,  was  a 
spectacle  worthy  of  the  gods  :  a  Tatar  attempting  to  run 
would  have  been  a  sight  worthy  of  you.  But  put  him  in  his 
stirrups,  and  then  is  the  Tatar  himself  again  :  there  you  see 
him  at  his  ease,  reposing  in  the  tranquillity  of  that  true  home 
(the  home  of  his  ancestors)  which  the  saddle  seems  to  afford 
him,  and  drawing  from  his  pipe  the  calm  pleasures  of  his 
"  own  fireside,"  or  else  dashing  sudden  over  the  earth,  as 
though  for  a  moment  he  were  borne  by  the  steed  of  a  Turko- 
man chief,  with  the  plains  of  central  Asia  before  him.  It 
was  not  till  his  subordinates  had  nearly  completed  their  prep- 
arations for  their  march  that  our  Tatar,  "  commanding  the 
forces,"  arrived ;  he  came  sleek,  and  fresh  from  the  bath  (for 
so  is  the  custom  of  the  Ottomans  when  they  start  upon  a 
journey),  and  was  carefully  accoutered  at  every  point.  From 
his  thigh  to  his  throat  he  was  loaded  with  arms  and  other 
implements  of  a  campaigning  life.  There  is  no  scarcity  of 
water  along  the  whole  road,  from  Belgrade  to  Stamboul,  but 
the  habits  of  our  Tatar  were  formed  by  his  ancestors,  and 
not  by  himself,  so  he  took  good  care  to  see  that  his  leather 
water  flask  was  amply  charged  and  properly  strapped  to  the 
saddle,  along  with  his  blessed  tchibouque.  And  now,  at  last, 
he  has  cursed  the  Suridgees,  in  all  proper  figures  of  speech, 
and  is  ready  for  a  ride  of  a  thousand  miles ;  but  before  he 
comforts  his  soul  in  the  marble  baths  of  Stamboul,  he  will  be 
another  and  a  smaller  man  —  his  sense  of  responsibility,  his 
too  strict  abstemiousness,  and  his  restless  energy,  disdainful 
of  sleep,  will  have  worn  him  down  to  a  fraction  of  the  sleek 
Moostapha,  that  now  leads  out  our  party  from  the  gates  of 
Belgrade. 

The  Suridgees  are  the  fellows  employed  to  lead  the  bag- 
gage horses.  They  are  most  of  them  Gipsies.  Poor  devils  ! 
their  lot  is  an  unhappy  one  —  they  are  the  last  of  the  human 
race,  and  all  the  sins  of  their  superiors  (including  the  horses) 


EOTHEN  13 

can  safely  be  visited  on  them.  But  the  wretched  often  look 
more  picturesque  than  their  betters,  and  though  all  the  world 
look  down  upon  these  poor  Suridgees,  their  tawny  skins  and 
their  grisly  beards  will  gain  them  honorable  standing  in  the 
foreground  of  a  landscape.  We  had  a  couple  of  these  fel- 
lows with  us,  each  leading  a  baggage  horse  to  the  tail  of 
which  last  another  baggage  horse  was  attached.  There  was 
a  world  of  trouble  in  persuading  the  stiff  angular  portman- 
teaus of  Europe  to  adapt  themselves  to  their  new  condition, 
and  sit  quietly  on  pack-saddles,  but  all  was  right  at  last,  and 
it  gladdened  my  eyes  to  see  our  little  troop  file  off  through 
the  winding  lanes  of  the  city,  and  show  down  brightly  in  the 
plain  beneath  ;  the  one  of  our  party  that  seemed  to  be  most 
out  of  keeping  with  the  rest  of  the  scene  was  Methley's 
Yorkshire  servant,  who  rode  doggedly  on  in  his  pantry 
jacket,  looking  out  for  "gentlemen's  seats." 

Methley  and  I  had  English  saddles,  but  I  think  we  should 
have  done  just  as  well  (I  should  certainly  have  seen  more 
of  the  country)  if  we  had  adopted  saddles  like  that  of  our 
Tatar,  who  towered  so  loftily  over  the  scraggy  little  beast  that 
carried  him.  In  taking  thought  for  the  East,  whilst  in  Eng- 
land, I  had  made  one  capital  hit  which  you  must  not  for- 
get—  I  had  brought  with  me  a  pair  of  common  spurs,  which 
were  a  great  comfort  to  me  throughout  my  travels  by  keep- 
ing up  the  cheerfulness  of  the  many  unhappy  nags  which  I 
had  to  bestride ;  the  angle  of  the  Oriental  stirrup  is  a  very 
poor  substitute  for  spurs. 

The  Ottoman  horseman,  raised  by  his  saddle  to  a  great 
height  above  the  humble  level  of  the  back  which  he  bestrides, 
and  using  an  awfully  sharp  bit,  is  able  to  lift  the  crest  of  his 
nag,  and  force  him  into  a  strangely  fast  amble,  which  is  the 
orthodox  pace  for  the  journey;  my  comrade  and  I  thought  it 
a  bore  to  be  "  followed  "  by  our  attendants  for  a  thousand 
miles,  and  we  generally,  therefore,  did  duty  as  the  rear-guard 
of  our  "grand  army";  we  used  to  walk  our  horses  till  the 
party  in  front  had  got  into  the  distance,  and  then  retrieve  the 
lost  ground  by  a  gallop. 

We  had  ridden  on  for  some  two  or  three  hours,  —  the  stir 
and  bustle  of  our  commencing  journey  had  ceased,  —  the 
liveliness  of  our  little  troop  had  worn  off  with  the  declining 


14  KINGLAKE 

day,  and  the  night  closed  in  as  we  entered  the  Great  Servian 
forest,  through  which  our  road  was  to  last  for  more  than  a 
hundred  miles.  Endless,  and  endless  now  on  either  side,  the 
tall  oaks  closed  in  their  ranks,  and  stood  gloomily  lowering 
over  us,  as  grim  as  an  army  of  giants  with  a  thousand  years' 
pay  in  arrear.  One  strived  with  listening  ear  to  catch  some 
tidings  of  that  Forest  World  within  —  some  stirring  of  beasts, 
some  night-bird's  scream,  but  all  was  quite  hushed,  except 
the  voice  of  the  cicalas  that  peopled  every  bough,  and  filled 
the  depths  of  the  forest  through  and  through  with  one  same 
hum  everlasting  —  more  stilling  than  very  silence. 

At  first  our  way  was  in  darkness,  but  after  a  while  the 
moon  got  up  and  touched  the  glittering  arms  and  tawny 
faces  of  our  men  with  light  so  pale  and  mystic,  that  the 
watchful  Tatar  felt  bound  to  look  out  for  demons,  and  take 
proper  means  for  keeping  them  off ;  he  immediately  deter- 
mined that  the  duty  of  frightening  away  our  ghostly  enemies 
(like  every  other  troublesome  work)  should  fall  upon  the 
poor  Suridgees,  who  accordingly  lifted  up  their  voices,  and 
burst  upon  the  dreadful  stillness  of  the  forest  with  shrieks 
and  dismal  howls.  These  precautions  were  kept  up  inces- 
santly, and  were  followed  by  the  most  complete  success,  for 
not  one  demon  came  near  us. 

Long  before  midnight,  we  reached  the  hamlet  in  which  we 
were  to  rest  for  the  night ;  it  was  made  up  of  about  a  dozen 
clay  huts,  standing  upon  a  small  tract  of  ground  which  had 
been  conquered  from  the  forest.  The  peasants  that  lived 
there  spoke  a  Slavonic  dialect,  and  Mysseri's  knowledge  of 
the  Russian  tongue  enabled  him  to  talk  with  them  freely. 
We  soon  took  up  our  quarters  in  a  square  room,  with  white 
walls,  and  an  earthen  floor,  quite  bare  of  furniture  and  utterly 
void  of  women.  They  told  us,  however,  that  these  Servian 
villagers  were  very  well  off,  but  that  they  were  careful  to 
conceal  their  wealth,  as  well  as  their  wives. 

The  burdens  unstrapped  from  the  pack-saddles  very 
quickly  furnished  our  den  ;  a  couple  of  quilts  spread  upon 
the  floor,  with  a  carpetbag  at  the  head  of  each,  became 
capital  sofas  —  portmanteaus,  and  hat-boxes,  and  writing- 
cases,  and  books,  and  maps,  and  gleaming  arms,  were  soon 
strewed  around  us  in  pleasant  confusion ;  Mysseri's  canteen. 


EOTHEN  15 

too,  began  to  yield  up  its  treasures,  but  we  relied  upon  finding 
some  provisions  in  the  village.  At  first  the  natives  declared 
that  their  hens  were  mere  old  maids,  and  all  their  cows  unmar- 
ried, but  our  Tatar  swore  such  a  grand,  sonorous  oath,  and 
fingered  the  hilt  of  his  yataghan  with  such  persuasive  touch, 
that  the  land  soon  flowed  with  milk,  and  mountains  of  eggs 
arose. 

And  soon  there  was  tea  before  us,  with  all  its  unspeakable 
fragrance,  and  as  we  reclined  on  the  floor,  we  found  that  a 
portmanteau  was  just  the  right  height  for  a  table  ;  the  duty  of 
candlesticks  was  ably  performed  by  a  couple  of  intelligent 
natives ;  the  rest  of  them  stood  by  the  open  doorway  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  room,  and  watched  our  banqueting  with  deep 
and  serious  attention. 

The  first  night  of  your  first  campaign  (though  you  be  but  a 
mere  peaceful  campaigner)  is  a  glorious  time  in  your  life.  It 
is  so  sweet  to  find  oneself  free  from  the  stale  civilization  of 
Europe  !  O  my  dear  ally  !  when  first  you  spread  your  carpet 
in  the  midst  of  these  Eastern  scenes,  do  think  for  a  moment 
of  those  your  fellow  creatures  that  dwell  in  squares,  and 
streets,  and  even  (for  such  is  the  fate  of  many!)  in  actual 
country  houses ;  think  of  the  people  that  are  "  presenting 
their  compliments,"  and  "  requesting  the  honor,"  and  "  much 
regretting,"  — of  those  that  are  pinioned  at  dinner  tables,  or 
stuck  up  in  ballrooms,  or  cruelly  planted  in  pews,  —  aye,  think 
of  these,  and  so  remembering  how  many  poor  devils  are  living 
in  a  state  of  utter  respectability,  you  will  glory  the  more  in 
your  own  delightful  escape. 

I  am  bound  to  confess,  however,  that  with  all  its  charms  a 
mud  floor  (like  a  mercenary  match)  does  certainly  promote 
early  rising.  Long  before  daybreak  we  were  up,  and  had 
breakfasted  ;  after  this  there  was  nearly  a  whole  tedious  hour 
to  endure,  whilst  the  horses  were  laden  by  torchlight ;  but 
this  had  an  end,  and  at  last  we  went  on  once  more.  Cloaked 
and  somber,  at  first  we  made  our  sullen  way  through  the  dark- 
ness, with  scarcely  one  barter  of  words,  but  soon  the  genial 
morning  burst  over  us,  and  stirred  the  blood  so  gladly  through 
our  veins  that  the  very  Suridgees,  with  all  their  troubles, 
could  now  look  up  for  an  instant,  and  almost  believe  in  the 
temporary  goodness  of  God. 


l6  KINGLAKE 

The  actual  movement  from  one  place  to  another,  in  Eiiro- 
peanized  countries,  is  a  process  so  temporary — it  occupies,  I 
mean,  so  small  a  portion  of  the  traveler's  entire  time,  that 
his  mind  remains  unsettled,  so  long  as  the  wheels  are  going ; 
he  is  alive  enough  to  the  external  objects  of  interest  which  the 
route  may  afford,  and  to  the  crowding  ideas  which  are  often 
invited  by  the  excitement  of  a  changing  scene ;  but  he  is  still 
conscious  of  being  in  a  provisional  state,  and  his  mind  is  con- 
stantly recurring  to  the  expected  end  of  his  journey ;  his  ordi- 
nary ways  of  thought  have  been  interrupted,  and  before  any 
new  mental  habits  can  be  formed  he  is  quietly  fixed  in  his 
hotel.  It  will  be  otherwise  with  you  when  you  journey  in  the 
East.  Day  after  day,  perhaps  week  after  week,  and  month 
after  month,  your  foot  is  in  the  stirrup.  To  taste  the  cold 
breath  of  the  earliest  morn,  and  to  lead  or  follow  your  bright 
cavalcade  till  sunset  through  forests,  and  mountain  passes, 
through  valleys,  and  desolate  plains,  all  this  becomes  your 
MODE  OF  LIFE,  and  you  ride,  eat,  drink,  and  curse  the 
mosquitoes,  as  systematically  as  your  friends  in  England  eat, 
drink,  and  sleep.  If  you  are  wise,  you  will  not  look  upon  the 
long  period  of  time  thus  occupied  by  your  journeys  as  the 
mere  gulfs  which  divide  you  from  the  place  to  which  you  are 
going,  but  rather  as  most  rare  and  beautiful  portions  of  your 
life,  from  which  may  come  temper  and  strength.  Once  feel 
this,  and  you  will  soon  grow  happy  and  contented  in  your 
saddle  home.  As  for  me  and  my  comrade,  in  this  part  of  our 
journey,  we  often  forgot  Stamboul,  forgot  all  the  Ottoman 
Empire,  and  only  remembered  old  times.  We  went  back, 
loitering  on  the  banks  of  Thames,  —  not  grim  old  Thames  of 
"after-life"  that  washes  the  Parliament  Houses,  and  drowns 
despairing  girls,  —  but  Thames  the  "old  Eton  fellow,"  that 
wrestled  with  us  in  our  boyhood  till  he  taught  us  to  be  stronger 
than  he.  We  bullied  Keate,  and  scoffed  at  Larrey,  Miller, 
and  Okes  ;  we  rode  along  loudly  laughing,  and  talked  to  the 
grave  Servian  forest,  as  though  it  were  the  "Brocas  clump." 
Our  pace  was  commonly  very  slow,  for  the  baggage  horses 
served  us  for  a  drag,  and  kept  us  to  a  rate  of  little  more  than 
five  miles  in  the  hour;  but  now  and  then,  and  chiefly  at  night, 
a  spirit  of  movement  would  suddenly  animate  the  whole  party : 
the  baggage  horses  would  be  teased  into  a  gallop,  and  when 


EOTHEN  17 

once  this  was  done,  there  would  be  such  a  banging  of  port- 
manteaus, and  such  convulsions  of  carpetbags  upon  their 
panting  sides,  and  the  Suridgees  would  follow  them  up  with 
such  a  hurricane  of  blows  and  screams  and  curses,  that  stop- 
ping or  relaxing  was  scarcely  possible ;  then  the  rest  of  us 
would  put  our  horses  into  a  gallop,  and  so,  all  shouting  cheer- 
ily, would  hunt  and  drive  the  sumpter  beasts  like  a  flock  of 
goats,  up  hill  and  down  dale,  right  on  to  the  end  of  their 
journey. 

The  distances  at  which  we  got  relays  of  horses  varied 
greatly  ;  some  were  not  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  miles, 
but  twice,  I  think,  we  performed  a  whole  day's  journey  of 
more  than  sixty  miles  with  the  same  beasts. 

When,  at  last,  we  came  out  from  the  forest,  our  road  lay 
through  scenes  like  those  of  an  English  park.  The  green- 
sward unfenced,  and  left  to  the  free  pasture  of  cattle,  was 
dotted  with  groups  of  stately  trees,  and  here  and  there 
darkened  over  with  larger  masses  of  wood,  that  seemed 
gathered  together  for  bounding  the  domain,  and  shutting  out 
some  infernal  fellow  creature  in  the  shape  of  a  new-made 
squire ;  in  one  or  two  spots  the  hanging  copses  looked  down 
upon  a  lawn  below  with  such  sheltering  mien,  that  seeing  the 
like  in  England  you  would  have  been  tempted  almost  to  ask 
the  name  of  the  spendthrift  or  the  madman  who  had  dared 
to  pull  down  the  old  hall. 

There  are  few  countries  less  infested  by  "lions"  than  the 
provinces  on  this  part  of  your  route ;  you  are  not  called  upon 
"  to  drop  a  tear"  over  the  tomb  of  "the  once  brilliant"  any- 
body, or  to  pay  your  "  tribute  of  respect "  to  anything  dead 
or  alive  ;  there  are  no  Servian  or  Bulgarian  Litterateurs  with 
whom  it  would  be  positively  disgraceful  not  to  form  an 
acquaintance;  you  have  no  staring,  no  praising,  to  get  through ; 
the  only  public  building  of  any  interest  which  lies  on  the  road 
is  of  modern  date,  but  is  said  to  be  a  good  specimen  of 
Oriental  architecture ;  it  is  of  a  pyramidal  shape,  and  is 
made  up  of  thirty  thousand  skulls  which  were  contributed  by 
the  rebellious  Servians  in  the  early  part  (I  believe)  of  this 
century ;  I  am  not  at  all  sure  of  my  date,  but  I  fancy  it  was 
in  the  year  1806  that  the  first  skull  was  laid.  I  am  ashamed 
to  say,  that  in  the  darkness  of  the  early  morning  we  unknow- 
17 


l8  KINGLAKE 

ingly  went  by  the  neighborhood  of  this  triumph  of  art,  and  so 
basely  got  off  from  admiring  "  the  simple  grandeur  of  the 
architect's  conception  "  and  "the  exquisite  beauty  of  the  fret- 
work." 

There  being  no  "  lions,"  we  ought  at  least  to  have  met  with 
a  few  perils,  but  there  were  no  women  to  attack  our  peace 
(they  were  all  wrapt  up,  or  locked  in),  and  as  for  robbers,  the 
only  robbers  we  saw  anything  of  had  been  long  since  dead 
and  gone ;  the  poor  fellows  had  been  impaled  upon  high 
poles,  and  so  propped  up  by  the  transverse  spokes  beneath 
them,  that  their  skeletons,  clothed  with  some  white,  wax-like 
remains  of  flesh,  still  sat  up  lolling  in  the  sunshine,  and  list- 
lessly stared  without  eyes. 

One  day  it  seemed  to  me  that  our  path  was  a  little  more 
rugged  and  less  level  than  usual,  and  I  found  that  I  was 
deserving  for  myself  the  title  of  Sabalkansky,  or  "  Tran- 
scender  of  the  Balcan."  The  truth  is,  that,  as  a  military 
barrier,  the  Balcan  is  a  fabulous  mountain ;  such  seems  to  be 
the  view  of  Major  Keppell,  who  looked  on  it  toward  the  East 
with  the  eye  of  a  soldier,  and  certainly  in  the  Sophia  pass, 
which  I  followed,  there  is  no  narrow  defile,  and  no  ascent  suf- 
ficiently difficult  to  stop,  or  delay  for  long  time,  a  train  of 
siege  artillery. 

Before  we  reached  Adrianople,  Methley  had  been  seized 
with  we  knew  not  what  ailment,  and  when  we  had  taken  up 
our  quarters  in  the  city,  he  was  cast  to  the  very  earth  by  sick- 
ness. Adrianople  enjoyed  an  English  Consul,  and  I  felt  sure 
that,  in  Eastern  phrase,  his  house  would  cease  to  be  his  house, 
and  would  become  the  house  of  my  sick  comrade ;  I  should 
have  judged  rightly  under  ordinary  circumstances,  but  the 
leveling  plague  was  abroad,  and  the  dread  of  it  had  dominion 
over  the  consular  mind.  So  now  (whether  dying  or  not,  one 
could  hardly  tell),  upon  a  quilt  stretched  out  along  the  floor, 
there  lay  the  best  hope  of  an  ancient  line,  without  the  material 
aids  to  comfort  of  even  the  humblest  sort,  and  (sad  to  say) 
without  the  consolation  of  a  friend,  or  even  a  comrade  worth 
having.  I  have  a  notion  that  tenderness  and  pity  are  affections 
occasioned  in  some  measure  by  living  within  doors  ;  certainly, 
at  the  time  I  speak  of,  the  open-air  life  which  I  had  been 
leading,  or  the  wayfaring  hardships  of  the  journey,  had  so 


EOTHEN  19 

Strangely  blunted  me,  that  I  felt  intolerant  of  illness,  and 
looked  down  upon  my  companion  as  if  the  poor  fellow  in  fall- 
ing ill  had  betrayed  a  decided  want  of  spirit !  I  entertained, 
too,  a  most  absurd  idea  —  an  idea  that  his  illness  was  partly 
affected.  You  see  that  I  have  made  a  confession  ;  this  I  hope 
—  that  I  may  always  hereafter  look  charitably  upon  the  hard, 
savage  acts  of  peasants  and  the  cruelties  of  a  "  brutal  " 
soldiery.  God  knows  that  I  strived  to  melt  myself  into  com- 
mon charity,  and  to  put  on  a  gentleness  which  I  could  not  feel, 
but  this  attempt  did  not  cheat  the  keenness  of  the  sufferer ;  he 
could  not  have  felt  the  less  deserted,  because  that  I  was  with 
him. 

We  called  to  aid  a  solemn  Armenian  (I  think  he  was),  half 
soothsayer,  half  hakim,  or  doctor,  who,  all  the  while  counting 
his  beads,  fixed  his  eyes  steadily  upon  the  patient,  and  then 
suddenly  dealt  him  a  violent  blow  on  the  chest.  Methley 
bravely  dissembled  his  pain,  for  he  fancied  that  the  blow  was 
meant  to  try  whether  or  not  the  plague  were  on  him. 

Here  was  really  a  sad  embarrassment —  no  bed  — nothing 
to  offer  the  invalid  in  the  shape  of  food,  save  a  piece  of  thin, 
tough,  flexible,  drab-colored  cloth,  made  of  flour  and  mill- 
stones in  equal  proportions,  and  called  by  the  name  of 
"bread";  then  the  patient,  of  course,  had  no  "confidence  in 
his  medical  man,"  and,  on  the  whole,  the  best  chance  of  sav- 
ing my  comrade  seemed  to  be  by  taking  him  out  of  the  reach 
of  his  doctor,  and  bearing  him  away  to  the  neighborhood  of 
some  more  genial  consul.  But  how  was  this  to  be  done .-' 
Methley  was  much  too  ill  to  be  kept  in  the  saddle,  and  wheel- 
carriages,  as  means  of  traveling,  were  unknown.  There  is, 
however,  such  a  thing  as  an  "Araba,"  a  vehicle  drawn  by 
oxen,  in  which  the  wives  of  a  rich  man  are  sometimes  dragged 
four  or  five  miles  over  the  grass  by  way  of  recreation.  The 
carriage  is  rudely  framed,  but  you  recognize  in  the  simple 
grandeur  of  its  design  a  likeness  to  things  majestic;  in  short, 
if  your  carpenter's  son  were  to  make  a  "  Lord  Mayor's  coach  " 
for  little  Amy,  he  would  build  a  carriage  very  much  in  the 
style  of  a  Turkish  Araba.  No  one  had  ever  heard  of  horses 
being  used  for  drawing  a  carriage  in  this  part  of  the  world, 
but  necessity  is  the  mother  of  Innovation,  as  well  as  of  In- 
vention.    I  was  fully  justified,  I  think,  in  arguing  that  there 


20  KINGLAKE 

were  numerous  instances  of  horses  being  used  for  that  pur- 
pose in  our  own  country  —  that  the  laws  of  nature  are  uniform 
in  their  operation  over  all  the  world  (except  Ireland)  —  that 
that  which  was  true  in  Piccadilly,  must  be  true  in  Adrianople 
—  that  the  matter  could  not  fairly  be  treated  as  an  ecclesias- 
tical question,  for  that  the  circumstance  of  Methley's  going 
on  to  Stamboul  in  an  Araba  drawn  by  horses,  when  calmly 
and  dispassionately  considered,  would  appear  to  be  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  maintenance  of  the  Mohammedan  religion, 
as  by  law  established.  Thus  poor,  dear,  patient  Reason  would 
have  fought  her  slow  battle  against  Asiatic  prejudice,  and  I 
am  convinced  that  she  would  have  established  the  possibility 
(and,  perhaps,  even  the  propriety)  of  harnessing  horses  in  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years ;  but  in  the  mean  time  Mysseri,  well 
seconded  by  our  Tatar,  put  a  very  quick  end  to  the  contro- 
versy by  having  the  horses  put  to. 

It  was  a  sore  thing  for  me  to  see  my  poor  comrade  brought 
to  this,  for  young  though  he  was,  he  was  a  veteran  in  travel ; 
when  scarcely  yet  of  age,  he  had  invaded  India  from  the 
frontiers  of  Russia,  and  that  so  swiftly,  that,  measuring  by  the 
time  of  his  flight,  the  broad  dominions  of  the  King  of  Kings 
were  shriveled  up  to  a  Dukedom,  and  now,  poor  fellow,  he 
was  to  be  poked  into  an  Araba,  like  a  Georgian  girl !  He 
suffered  greatly,  for  there  were  no  springs  for  the  carriage, 
and  no  road  for  the  wheels,  and  so  the  concern  jolted  on  over 
the  open  country,  with  such  twists  and  jerks  and  jumps,  as 
might  almost  dislocate  the  supple  tongue  of  Satan. 

All  day  the  patient  kept  himself  shut  up  within  the  lattice- 
work of  the  Araba,  and  I  could  hardly  know  how  he  was  far- 
ing until  the  end  of  the  day's  journey,  when  I  found  that  he 
was  not  worse,  and  was  buoyed  up  with  the  hope  of  some  day 
reaching  Constantinople. 

I  was  always  conning  over  my  maps,  and  fancied  that  I 
knew  pretty  well  my  line,  but  after  Adrianople  I  had  made 
more  southing  than  I  knew  for,  and  it  was  with  unbelieving 
wonder  and  delight,  that  I  came  suddenly  upon  the  shore  of 
the  sea ;  a  little  while,  and  its  gentle  billows  were  flowing  be- 
neath the  hoofs  of  my  beast,  but  the  hearing  of  the  ripple  was 
not  enough  communion,  —  and  the  seeing  of  the  blue  Pro- 
pontis  was  not  to  know  and  possess  it,  —  I  must  needs  plunge 


EOTHEN  21 

into  its  depths,  and  quench  my  longing  love  in  the  palpable 
waves ;  and  so  when  old  Moostapha  (defender  against  demons) 
looked  around  for  his  charge,  he  saw  with  horror  and  dismay 
that  he  for  whose  life  his  own  life  stood  pledged  was  pos- 
sessed of  some  devil  who  had  driven  him  down  into  the  sea  — 
that  the  rider  and  the  steed  had  vanished  from  earth,  and 
that  out  among  the  waves  was  the  gasping  crest  of  a  post- 
horse,  and  the  pale  head  of  the  Englishman  moving  upon  the 
face  of  the  waters. 

We  started  very  early,  indeed,  on  the  last  day  of  our  jour- 
ney, and  from  the  moment  of  being  off,  until  we  gained  the 
shelter  of  the  imperial  walls,  we  were  struggling  face  to  face 
with  an  icy  storm  that  swept  right  down  from  the  steppes  of 
Tartary,  keen,  fierce,  and  steady  as  a  northern  conqueror. 
Methley's  servant,  who  was  the  greatest  sufferer,  kept  his 
saddle  until  we  reached  Stamboul,  but  was  then  found  to  be 
quite  benumbed  in  limbs,  and  his  brain  was  so  much  affected, 
that  when  he  was  lifted  from  his  horse  he  fell  away  in  a  state 
of  unconsciousness,  the  first  stage  of  a  dangerous  fever. 

Methley,  in  his  Araba,  had  been  sheltered  from  the  storm, 
but  he  was  sadly  ill.  I  myself  bore  up  capitally  for  a  delicate 
person,  but  I  was  so  well  watered,  and  the  blood  of  my  veins 
had  shrunk  away  so  utterly  from  the  chilling  touch  of  the 
blast,  that  I  must  have  looked  more  fit  for  a  watery  grave 
than  for  the  city  of  the  Prince,  whom  men  call  "  Brother  of 
the  Sun." 

Our  Tatar,  worn  down  by  care  and  toil,  and  carrying  seven 
heavens  full  of  water  in  his  manifold  jackets  and  shawls,  was 
a  mere  weak  and  vapid  dilution  of  the  sleek  Moostapha,  who 
scarce  more  than  one  fortnight  before  came  out  like  a  bride- 
groom from  his  chamber,  to  take  the  command  of  our  party. 

Mysseri  seemed  somewhat  overwearied,  but  he  had  lost 
none  of  his  strangely  quiet  energy ;  he  wore  a  grave  look, 
however,  for  he  now  had  learned  that  the  Plague  was  pre- 
vailing at  Constantinople,  and  he  was  fearing  that  our  two 
sick  men,  and  the  miserable  looks  of  our  whole  party,  might 
make  us  unwelcome  at  Pera. 

Our  poor,  dear  portmanteaus,  whose  sharp,  angular  forms 
had  rebelled  so  rudely  against  the  pack-saddles,  were  now 
reduced  to  soft,  pulpy  substances,  and  the  things  which  were 


22  KINGLAKE 

in  them  could  plainly  be  of  no  immediate  use  to  anybody  but 
a  merman,  or  a  river-god ;  the  carpetbags  seemed  to  contain 
nothing  but  mere  solutions  of  coats  and  boots,  escaping  drop 
by  drop. 

We  crossed  the  Golden  Horn  in  a  caique ;  as  soon  as  we 
had  landed,  some  wobegone-looking  fellows  were  got  together, 
and  laden  with  our  baggage.  Then,  on  we  went,  dripping, 
and  sloshing,  and  looking  very  like  men  that  had  been  turned 
back  by  the  Royal  Humane  Society,  as  being  incurably 
drowned.  Supporting  our  sick,  we  climbed  up  shelving  steps, 
and  threaded  many  windings,  and  at  last  came  up  into  the 
main  street  of  Pera,  humbly  hoping  that  we  might  not  be 
judged  guilty  of  plague,  and  so  be  cast  back  with  horror  from 
the  doors  of  the  shuddering  Christians. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  our  party,  which  fifteen  days 
before  had  filed  away  so  gaily  from  the  gates  of  Belgrade. 
A  couple  of  fevers,  and  a  northeasterly  storm,  had  thoroughly 
spoiled  our  looks. 

The  interest  of  Mysseri  with  the  house  of  Giuseppeni  was 
too  powerful  to  be  denied,  and  at  once,  though  not  without 
fear  and  trembling,  we  were  admitted  as  guests. 


CHAPTER  III 

Constantinople 

EVEN  if  we  don't  take  a  part  in  the  chant  about 
"  Mosques  and  Minarets,"  we  can  still  yield  praises  to 
Stamboul.  We  can  chant  about  the  harbor ;  we  can 
say  and  sing  that  nowhere  else  does  the  sea  come  so  home  to 
a  city  ;  there  are  no  pebbly  shores  —  no  sand-bars  —  no  slimy 
riverbeds  —  no  black  canals  —  no  locks  nor  docks  to  divide 
the  very  heart  of  the  place  from  the  deep  waters ;  if,  being 
in  the  noisiest  mart  of  Stamboul,  you  would  stroll  to  the  quiet 
side  of  the  way  amidst  those  Cypresses  opposite,  you  will 
cross  the  fathomless  Bosphorus ;  if  you  would  go  from  your 
hotel  to  the  Bazaars,  you  must  go  by  the  bright,  blue  path- 
way of  the  Golden  Horn,  that  can  carry  a  thousand  sail  of 
the  line.  You  are  accustomed  to  the  Gondolas  that  glide 
among  the  palaces  of  St.  Mark,  but  here  at  Stamboul  it  is  a 
hundred-and-twenty-gun  ship  that  meets  you  in  the  street. 
Venice  strains  out  from  the  steadfast  land,  and  in  old  times 
would  send  forth  the  Chief  of  the  State  to  woo,  and  wed  the 
reluctant  sea  ;  but  the  stormy  bride  of  the  Doge  is  the  bowing 
slave  of  the  Sultan  —  she  comes  to  his  feet  with  the  treasures 
of  the  world  —  she  bears  him  from  palace  to  palace  —  by 
some  unfailing  witchcraft,  she  entices  the  breezes  to  follow 
her,  1  and  fan  the  pale  cheek  of  her  lord  —  she  lifts  his 
armed  navies  to  the  very  gates  of  his  garden  —  she  watches 
the  walls  of  his  Serail  —  she  stifles  the  intrigues  of  his  Minis- 
ters —  she  quiets  the  scandals  of  his  Court  —  she  extinguishes 
his  rivals,  and  hushes  his  naughty  wives  all  one  by  one.  So 
vast  are  the  wonders  of  the  Deep ! 

All  the  while  that  I  stayed  at  Constantinople,  the  Plague 
was  prevailing,   but  not  with    any  degree   of   violence ;    its 

^  There  is  almost  always  a  breeze,  either  from  the  Marmora,  or  from 
the  Black  Sea,  that  passes  along  through  the  Bosphorus. 

23 


24  KINGLAKE 

presence,  however,  lent  a  mysterious  and  exciting,  though 
not  very  pleasant,  interest  to  my  first  knowledge  of  a  great 
Oriental  city ;  it  gave  tone  and  color  to  all  I  saw,  and  all  I 
felt  —  a  tone,  and  a  color  somber  enough,  but  true,  and  well 
befitting  the  dreary  monuments  of  past  power  and  splendor. 
With  all  that  is  most  truly  Oriental  in  its  character,  the 
Plague  is  associated ;  it  dwells  with  the  faithful  in  the  holiest 
quarters  of  their  city ;  the  coats  and  the  hats  of  Pera  are 
held  to  be  nearly  as  innocent  of  infection  as  they  are  ugly 
in  shape  and  fashion;  but  the  rich  furs,  and  the  costly 
shawls,  the  broidered  slippers,  and  the  gold-laden  saddle- 
cloths—  the  fragrance  of  burning  aloes,  and  the  rich  aroma 
of  patchouli  —  these  are  the  signs  which  mark  the  familiar 
home  of  Plague.  You  go  out  from  your  living  London  —  the 
center  of  the  greatest  and  strongest  amongst  all  earthly 
dominions  —  you  go  out  thence,  and  travel  on  to  the  capital 
of  an  Eastern  Prince  —  you  find  but  a  waning  power,  and  a 
faded  splendor,  that  inclines  you  to  laugh  and  mock ;  but  let 
the  infernal  Angel  of  Plague  be  at  hand,  and  he,  more  mighty 
than  armies,  —  more  terrible  than  Suleymanin  his  glory, —  can 
restore  such  pomp  and  majesty  to  the  weakness  of  the  Im- 
perial walls,  that  if,  zvJien  HE  is  there,  you  must  still  go  pry- 
ing amongst  the  shades  of  this  dead  Empire,  at  least  you 
will  tread  the  path  with  seemly  reverence  and  awe. 

It  is  the  firm  faith  of  almost  all  the  Europeans  living  in 
the  East,  that  Plague  is  conveyed  by  the  touch  of  infected 
substances,  and  that  the  deadly  atoms  especially  lurk  in  all 
kinds  of  clothes  and  furs  ;  it  is  held  safer  to  breathe  the  same 
air  with  a  man  sick  of  the  Plague,  and  even  to  come  in  con- 
tact with  his  skin,  than  to  be  touched  by  the  smallest  particle 
of  woolen  or  of  thread,  which  may  have  been  within  the 
reach  of  possible  infection.  If  this  notion  be  correct,  the 
spread  of  the  malady  must  be  materially  aided  by  the  ob- 
servance of  a  custom  which  prevails  amongst  the  people  of 
Stamboul :  when  an  Osmanlee  dies,  it  is  usual  to  cut  up  one 
of  his  dresses,  and  to  send  a  small  piece  of  it  to  each  of  his 
friends,  as  a  memorial  of  the  departed.  A  fatal  present  is 
this,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  Franks,  for  it  too  often 
forces  the  living  not  merely  to  remember  the  dead  man,  but 
to  follow  and  bear  him  company. 


EOTHEN  25 

The  Europeans  during  the  prevalence  of  the  Plague,  if  they 
are  forced  to  venture  into  the  streets,  will  carefully  avoid  the 
touch  of  every  human  being  whom  they  pass ;  their  conduct 
in  this  respect  shows  them  strongly  in  contrast  with  the  "  true 
believers " ;  the  Moslem  stalks  on  serenely,  as  though  he 
were  under  the  eye  of  his  God,  and  were  "  equal  to  either 
fate " ;  the  Franks  go  crouching,  and  slinking  from  death, 
and  some  (those  chiefly  of  French  extraction)  will  fondly 
strive  to  fence  out  Destiny  with  shining  capes  of  oilskin ! 

For  some  time  you  may  manage  by  great  care  to  thread  your 
way  through  the  streets  of  Stamboul,  without  incurring  con- 
tact, for  the  Turks,  though  scornful  of  the  terrors  felt  by  the 
Franks,  are  generally  very  courteous  in  yielding  to  that  which 
they  hold  to  be  a  useless  and  impious  precaution,  and  will  let 
you  pass  safe,  if  they  can.  It  is  impossible,  however,  that 
your  immunity  can  last  for  any  length  of  time,  if  you  move 
about  much  through  the  narrow  streets  and  lanes  of  a  crowded 
city. 

As  for  me,  I  soon  got  "compromised."  After  one  day  of 
rest,  the  prayers  of  my  hostess  began  to  lose  their  power  of 
keeping  me  from  the  pestilent  side  of  the  Golden  Horn. 
Faithfully  promising  to  shun  the  touch  of  all  imaginable 
substances,  however  enticing,  I  set  off  very  cautiously,  and 
held  my  way  uncompromised,  till  I  reached  the  water's  edge ; 
but  during  the  moment  that  I  was  waiting  for  my  caique, 
some  rueful-looking  fellows  came  rapidly  shambling  down  the 
steps  with  a  plague-stricken  corpse,  which  they  were  going  to 
bury  amongst  the  faithful  on  the  other  side  of  the  water.  I 
contrived  to  be  so  much  in  the  way  of  this  brisk  funeral,  that 
I  was  not  only  touched  by  the  men  bearing  the  body,  but 
also,  I  believe,  by  the  foot  of  the  dead  man,  which  was  lolling 
out  of  the  bier.  This  accident  gave  me  such  a  strong  inter- 
est in  denying  the  soundness  of  the  contagion  theory,  that  I 
did,  in  fact,  deny  and  repudiate  it  altogether ;  and  from  that 
time,  acting  upon  my  own  convenient  view  of  the  matter,  I 
went  wherever  I  chose,  without  taking  any  serious  pains  to 
avoid  a  touch.  I  have  now  some  reason  to  think  that  the  Euro- 
peans may  be  right,  and  that  the  Plague  may  be  really  conveyed 
by  contagion  ;  but  whilst  I  remained  in  the  East,  I  happily  en- 
tertained ideas  more  approaching  to  those  of  the  fatalist;  and 


26  KINGLAKE 

SO,  when  I  afterwards  encountered  the  Plague  in  full  force,  I 
was  able  to  live  amongst  the  dying  with  much  less  anxiety  of 
mind  than  I  should  have  suffered  if  I  had  believed  that  every 
touch  which  I  met  with  was  a  possible  death  stroke. 

And  perhaps  as  you  make  your  difficult  way  through  a 
steep  and  narrow  alley,  which  winds  between  blank  walls,  and 
is  little  frequented  by  passers,  you  meet  one  of  those  coffin- 
shaped  bundles  of  white  linen  which  implies  an  Ottoman 
lady.  Painfully  struggling  against  the  obstacles  to  progres- 
sion which  are  interposed  by  the  many  folds  of  her  clumsy 
drapery,  by  her  big  mud  boots,  and  especially  by  her  two 
pairs  of  slippers,  she  waddles  along  full  awkwardly  enough, 
but  yet  there  is  something  of  womanly  consciousness  in  the 
very  labor  and  effort  with  which  she  tugs  and  lifts  the  burden 
of  her  charms ;  she  is  closely  followed  by  her  women  slaves. 
Of  her  very  self  you  see  nothing,  except  the  dark,  luminous 
eyes  that  stare  against  your  face,  and  the  tips  of  the  painted 
fingers  depending  like  rosebuds  from  out  the  blank  bastions 
of  the  fortress.  She  turns,  and  turns  again,  and  carefully 
glances  around  her  on  all  sides  to  see  that  she  is  safe  from 
the  eyes  of  Mussulmans,  and  then  suddenly  withdrawing  the 
yashmak,^  she  shines  upon  your  heart  and  soul  with  all  the 
pomp  and  might  of  her  beauty.  And  this  which  so  dizzies 
your  brain  is  not  the  light,  changeful  grace,  which  leaves  you 
to  doubt  whether  you  have  fallen  in  love  with  a  body,  or  only 
a  soul ;  it  is  the  beauty  that  dwells  secure  in  the  perfectness 
of  hard,  downright  outlines,  and  in  the  glow  of  generous 
color.  There  is  fire,  though,  too  —  high  courage,  and  fire 
enough  in  the  untamed  mind,  or  spirit,  or  whatever  it  is, 
which  drives  the  breath  of  pride  through  those  scarcely 
parted  lips. 

You  smile  at  pretty  women  —  you  turn  pale  before  the 
beauty  that  is  great  enough  to  have  dominion  over  you.  She 
sees,  and  exults  in  your  giddiness  ;  she  sees  and  smiles ;  then 
presently,  with  a  sudden  movement,  she  lays  her  blushing 
fingers    upon    your   arm,    and    cries   out,    "  Yumourdjak !  " 

^  The  yashmak,  you  know,  is  not  a  mere  semitransparent  veil,  but  rather 
a  good  substantial  petticoat  applied  to  the  face ;  it  thoroughly  conceals  all 
the  features,  except  the  eyes ;  the  way  of  withdrawing  it  is  by  pulling  it 
down. 


EOTHEN  27 

(Plague !  meaning  "  There  is  a  present  of  the  Plague  for 
you !  ")  This  is  her  notion  of  a  witticism :  it  is  a  very  old 
piece  of  fun,  no  doubt  —  quite  an  Oriental  Joe  Miller;  but 
the  Turks  are  fondly  attached,  not  only  to  the  institutions, 
but  also  to  the  jokes  of  their  ancestors  ;  so,  the  lady's  silvery 
laugh  rings  joyously  in  your  ears,  and  the  mirth  of  her  women 
is  boisterous  and  fresh,  as  though  the  bright  idea  of  giving 
the  Plague  to  a  Christian  had  newly  lit  upon  the  earth. 

Methley  began  to  rally  very  soon  after  we  had  reached  Con- 
stantinople, but  there  seemed  at  first  to  be  no  chance  of  his 
regaining  strength  enough  for  traveling  during  the  winter ; 
and  I  determined  to  stay  with  my  comrade,  until  he  had  quite 
recovered;  so  I  got  a  horse,  and  a  pipe  of  tranquillity,  and 
took  a  Turkish  phrase  master.  I  troubled  myself  a  great  deal 
with  the  Turkish  tongue,  and  gained  at  last  some  knowledge 
of  its  structure  ;  it  is  enriched,  perhaps  overladen,  with  Persian 
and  Arabic  words,  which  have  been  imported  into  the  lan- 
guage, chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  representing  sentiments  and 
religious  dogmas,  and  terms  of  art  and  luxury,  which  were  all 
unknown  to  the  Tatar  ancestors  of  the  present  Osmanlees ; 
but  the  body  and  spirit  of  the  old  tongue  is  yet  alive,  and  the 
smooth  words  of  the  shopkeeper  at  Constantinople  can  still 
carry  understanding  to  the  ears  of  the  untamed  millions  who 
rove  over  the  plains  of  northern  Asia.  The  structure  of  the 
language,  especially  in  its  more  lengthy  sentences,  is  very 
like  to  the  Latin;  the  subject-matters  are  slowly  and  patiently 
enumerated,  without  disclosing  the  purpose  of  the  speaker 
until  he  reaches  the  end  of  his  sentence,  and  then  at  last 
there  comes  the  clenching  word,  which  gives  a  meaning  and 
connection  to  all  that  has  gone  before.  If  you  listen  at  all  to 
speaking  of  this  kind,  your  attention,  rather  than  be  suffered 
to  flag,  must  grow  more  and  more  lively,  as  the  phrase 
marches  on. 

The  Osmanlees  speak  well.  In  countries  civilized  according 
to  the  European  plan,  the  work  of  trying  to  persuade  tribunals 
is  almost  all  performed  by  a  set  of  men,  the  great  body  of  whom 
very  seldom  do  anything  else ;  but  in  Turkey,  this  division  of 
labor  has  never  taken  place,  and  every  man  is  his  own  advocate. 
The  importance  of  the  rhetorical  art  is  immense,  for  a  bad 
speech  may  endanger  the  property  of  the  speaker,  as  well  as 


28  KINGLAKE 

the  soles  of  his  feet  and  the  free  enjoyment  of  his  throat. 
So  it  results  that  most  of  the  Turks  whom  one  sees  have  a 
lawyer-like  habit  of  s-peaking  connectedly  and  at  length. 
The  treaties  continually  going  on  in  the  Bazaar  for  the  buying 
and  selling  of  the  merest  trifles  are  carried  on  by  speechify- 
ing, rather  than  by  mere  colloquies,  and  the  eternal  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  market  value  of  things  in  constant  sale  gives 
room  for  endless  discussion.  The  seller  is  forever  demand- 
ing a  price  immensely  beyond  that  for  which  he  sells  at  last, 
and  so  occasions  unspeakable  disgust  to  many  Englishmen, 
who  cannot  see  why  an  honest  dealer  should  ask  more  for 
his  goods  than  he  will  really  take.  The  truth  is,  however, 
that  an  ordinary  tradesman  of  Constantinople  has  no  other 
way  of  finding  out  the  fair  market  value  of  his  property. 
The  difficulty  under  which  he  labors  is  easily  shown  by  com- 
paring the  mechanism  of  the  commercial  system  in  Turkey, 
with  that  of  our  own  country.  In  England,  or  in  any  other 
great  mercantile  country,  the  bulk  of  the  things  which  are 
bought  and  sold  goes  through  the  hands  of  a  wholesale  dealer, 
and  it  is  he  who  higgles  and  bargains  with  an  entire  nation 
of  purchasers,  by  entering  into  treaty  with  retail  sellers.  The 
labor  of  making  a  few  large  contracts  is  sufficient  to  give  a 
clue  for  finding  the  fair  market  value  of  the  things  sold  through- 
out the  country  ;  but  in  Turkey,  from  the  primitive  habits  of 
the  people,  and  partly  from  the  absence  of  great  capital  and 
great  credit,  the  importing  merchant,  the  warehouseman,  the 
wholesale  dealer,  the  retail  dealer,  and  the  shopman  are  all 
one  person.  Old  Moostapha,  or  Abdallah,  or  Hadgi  Mo- 
hammed, waddles  up  from  the  water's  edge  with  a  small  packet 
of  merchandise,  which  he  has  bought  out  of  a  Greek  brigan- 
tine,  and  when  at  last  he  has  reached  his  nook  in  the  Bazaar, 
he  puts  his  goods  before  the  counter,  and  himself  upon  it  — 
then  laying  fire  to  his  tchibouque,  he  "  sits  in  permanence," 
and  patiently  waits  to  obtain  "  the  best  price  that  can  be  got 
in  an  open  market."  This  is  his  fair  right  as  a  seller,  but 
he  has  no  means  of  finding  out  what  that  best  price  is,  except 
by  actual  experiment.  He  cannot  know  the  intensity  of 
the  demand,  or  the  abundance  of  the  supply,  otherwise  than 
by  the  offers  which  may  be  made  for  his  little  bundle  of 
goods;  so  he  begins  by  asking  a  perfectly  hopeless  price,  and 


EOTHEN  29 

thence  descends  the  ladder  until  he  meets  a  purchaser,  for- 
ever ,,     .  . 

"  striving  to  attain 

By  shadowing  out  the  unattainable." 

This  is  the  struggle  which  creates  the  continual  occa- 
sion for  debate.  The  vender,  perceiving  that  the  unfolded 
merchandise  has  caught  the  eye  of  a  possible  purchaser,  com- 
mences his  opening  speech.  He  covers  his  bristling  broad- 
cloths and  his  meager  silks  with  the  golden  broidery  of 
Oriental  praises,  and  as  he  talks,  along  with  the  slow  and 
graceful  waving  of  his  arms,  he  lifts  his  undulating  periods, 
upholds  and  poises  them  well,  till  they  have  gathered  their 
weight  and  their  strength,  and  then  hurls  them  bodily  for- 
ward, with  grave,  momentous  swing.  The  possible  purchaser 
listens  to  the  whole  speech  with  deep  and  serious  attention  ; 
but  when  it  is  over  his  turn  arrives;  he  elaborately  endeavors 
to  show  why  he  ought  not  to  buy  the  things  at  a  price 
twenty  times  more  than  their  value  ;  bystanders,  attracted  to 
the  debate,  take  a  part  in  it  as  independent  members  —  the 
vender  is  heard  in  reply,  and  coming  down  with  his  price, 
furnishes  the  materials  for  a  new  debate.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, the  dealer,  if  he  is  a  very  pious  Mussulman,  and  suffi- 
ciently rich  to  hold  back  his  ware,  will  take  a  more  dignified 
part,  maintaining  a  kind  of  judicial  gravity,  and  receiving  the 
applicants  who  come  to  his  stall  as  if  they  were  rather  suitors 
than  customers.  He  will  quietly  hear  to  the  end  some  long 
speech  which  concludes  with  an  offer,  and  will  answer  it  all 
with  the  one  monosyllable  "  Yok,"  which  means  distinctly 
"No." 

I  caught  one  glimpse  of  the  old  Heathen  World.  My 
habits  of  studying  military  subjects  had  been  hardening  my 
heart  against  Poetry.  Forever  staring  at  the  flames  of  bat- 
tle, I  had  blinded  myself  to  the  lesser  and  finer  lights  that 
are  shed  from  the  imaginations  of  men.  In  my  reading  at 
this  time,  I  delighted  to  follow  from  out  of  Arabian  sands 
the  feet  of  the  armed  believers,  and  to  stand  in  the  broad, 
manifest  storm-track  of  Tatar  devastation ;  and  thus,  though 
surrounded  at  Constantinople  by  scenes  of  much  interest  to 
the  "classical  scholar,"  I  had  cast  aside  their  associations 
like  an  old  Greek  grammar,  and  turned  my  face  to  the  "  shin- 


30  KINGLAKE 

ing  Orient,"  forgetful  of  old  Greece  and  all  the  pure  wealth 
she  has  left  to  this  matter-of-fact-ridden  world.  But  it  hap- 
pened to  me  one  day  to  mount  the  high  grounds  overhang- 
ing the  streets  of  Pera  ;  I  sated  my  eyes  with  the  pomps  of  the 
city  and  its  crowded  waters,  and  then  I  looked  over  where 
Scutari  lay  half  veiled  in  her  mournful  cypresses ;  I  looked 
yet  farther  and  higher,  and  saw  in  the  heavens  a  silvery  cloud 
that  stood  fast  and  still  against  the  breeze ;  it  was  pure  and 
dazzling  white  as  might  be  the  veil  of  Cytherea,  yet  touched 
with  fire,  as  though  from  beneath  the  loving  eyes  of  an  im- 
mortal were  shining  through  and  through.  I  knew  the  bear- 
ing, but  had  enormously  misjudged  its  distance  and  underrated 
its  height,  and  so  it  was  as  a  sign  and  a  testimony  —  almost  as 
a  call  from  the  neglected  gods,  that  now  I  saw  and  acknowl- 
edged the  snowy  crown  of  the  Mysian  Olympus ! 


CHAPTER  IV 

The   Troad 

ETHI.EY  recovered  almost  suddenly,  and  we  deter- 
mined to  go  through  the  Troad  together. 

My  comrade  was  a  capital  Grecian ;  it  is  true  that 
his  singular  mind  so  ordered  and  disposed  the  classic  lore 
which  he  had  gained,  as  to  impress  it  with  something  of  an 
original  and  barbarous  character  —  with  an  almost  Gothic 
quaintness,  more  properly  belonging  to  a  rich  native  ballad 
than  to  the  poetry  of  Hellas;  there  was  a  certain  impropriety 
in  his  knowing  so  much  Greek  —  an  unfitness  in  the  idea  of 
marble  fauns,  and  satyrs,  and  even  Olympian  Gods,  lugged 
in  under  the  oaken  roof,  and  the  painted  light  of  an  odd,  old 
Norman  hall.  But  Methley,  abounding  in  Homer,  really  loved 
him  (as  I  believe)  in  all  truth,  without  whim  or  fancy ;  more- 
over, he  had  a  good  deal  of  the  practical  sagacity,  or  sharp- 
ness, or  whatever  you  call  it, 

"of  a  Yorkshireman  hippodamoio," 

and  this  enabled  him  to  apply  his  knowledge  with  much  more 
tact  than  is  usually  shown  by  people  so  learned  as  he. 

I,  too,  loved  Homer,  but  not  with  a  scholar's  love.  The 
most  humble  and  pious  amongst  women  was  yet  so  proud  a 
mother  that  she  could  teach  her  first-born  son,  no  Watts's 
hymns  —  no  collects  for  the  day;  she  could  teach  him  in 
earliest  childhood,  no  less  than  this — to  find  a  home  in  his 
saddle,  and  to  love  old  Homer,  and  all  that  Homer  sung. 
True  it  is,  that  the  Greek  was  ingeniously  rendered  into  Eng- 
lish —  the  English  of  Pope  even,  but  it  is  not  such  a  mesh  as 
that  that  can  screen  an  earnest  child  from  the  fire  of  Homer's 
battles. 

I  pored  over  the  "Odyssey"  as  over  a  story-book,  hoping  and 
fearing  for  the  hero  whom  yet  I  partly  scorned.    But  the  "Iliad" 

31 


32  KINGLAKE 

—  line  by  line,  I  clasped  it  to  my  brain  with  reverence  as  well 
as  with  love.  As  an  old  woman  deeply  trustful  sits  reading 
her  Bible  because  of  the  world  to  come,  so,  as  though  it  would 
fit  me  for  the  coming  strife  of  this  temporal  world,  I  read, 
and  read  the  "Iliad."  Even  outwardly  it  was  not  like  other 
books  :  it  was  throned  in  towering  folios.  There  was  a  pref- 
ace or  dissertation  printed  in  type  still  more  majestic  than 
the  rest  of  the  book;  this  I  read,  but  not  till  my  enthusiasm 
for  the  "  Iliad  "  had  already  run  high.  The  writer,  compiling 
the  opinions  of  many  men,  and  chiefly  of  the  ancients,  set 
forth,  I  know  not  how  quaintly,  that  the  "Iliad  "  was  all  in  all 
to  the  human  race  —  that  it  was  history  —  poetry  —  revelation 

—  that  the  works  of  men's  hands  were  folly  and  vanity,  and 
would  pass  away  like  the  dreams  of  a  child,  but  that  the  king- 
dom of  Homer  would  endure  forever  and  ever. 

I  assented  with  all  my  soul.  I  read,  and  still  read  ;  I  came 
to  know  Homer.  A  learned  commentator  knows  something 
of  the  Greeks,  in  the  same  sense  as  an  oil-and-color  man  may 
be  said  to  know  something  of  painting ;  but  take  an  untamed 
child,  and  leave  him  alone  for  twelve  months  with  any  trans- 
lation of  Homer,  and  he  will  be  nearer  by  twenty  centuries  to 
the  spirit  of  old  Greece ;  he  does  not  stop  in  the  ninth  year  of 
the  siege,  to  admire  this  or  that  group  of  words  —  he  has  no 
books  in  his  tent,  but  he  shares  in  vital  counsels  with  the 
"  King  of  men,"  and  knows  the  inmost  souls  of  the  impend- 
ing Gods ;  how  profanely  he  exults  over  the  powers  divine, 
when  they  are  taught  to  dread  the  prowess  of  mortals !  and 
most  of  all  how  he  rejoices  when  the  God  of  War  flies  howl- 
ing from  the  spear  of  Diomed,  and  mounts  into  heaven  for 
safety !  Then  the  beautiful  episode  of  the  6th  Book:  the  way 
to  feel  this  is  not  to  go  casting  about,  and  learning  from  pas- 
tors and  masters  how  best  to  admire  it ;  the  impatient  child 
is  not  grubbing  for  beauties,  but  pushing  the  siege ;  the 
women  vex  him  with  their  delays,  and  their  talking  —  the 
mention  of  the  nurse  is  personal,  and  little  sympathy  has  he 
for  the  child  that  is  young  enough  to  be  frightened  at  the 
nodding  plume  of  a  helmet ;  but  all  the  while  that  he  thus 
chafes  at  the  pausing  of  the  action,  the  strong  vertical  light 
of  Homer's  Poetry  is  blazing  so  full  upon  the  people,  and 
things  of  the  "Iliad,"  that  soon  to  the  eyes  of  the  child  they 


EOTHEN  33 

grow  familiar  as  his  mother's  shawl ;  yet  of  this  great  gain  he 
is  unconscious,  and  on  he  goes,  vengefully  thirsting  for  the 
best  blood  of  Troy,  and  never  remitting  his  fierceness,  till 
almost  suddenly  it  is  changed  for  sorrow  —  the  new  and 
generous  sorrow  that  he  learns  to  feel,  when  the  noblest  of  all 
his  foes  lies  sadly  dying  at  the  Scaean  gate. 

Heroic  days  were  these,  but  the  dark  ages  of  schoolboy 
life  came  closing  over  them.  I  suppose  it's  all  right  in  the 
end,  yet,  by  Jove,  at  first  sight,  it  does  seem  a  sad  intellectual 
fall  from  your  mother's  dressing-room  to  a  buzzing  school. 
You  feel  so  keenly  the  delights  of  early  knowledge;  you  form 
strange  mystic  friendships  with  the  mere  names  of  mountains, 
and  seas,  and  continents,  and  mighty  rivers ;  you  learn  the 
ways  of  the  planets,  and  transcend  their  narrow  limits,  and 
ask  for  the  end  of  space ;  you  vex  the  electric  cylinder  till  it 
yields  you,  for  your  toy  to  play  with,  that  subtle  fire  in  which 
our  earth  was  forged;  you  know  of  the  nations  that  have 
towered  high  in  the  world,  and  the  lives  of  the  men  who  have 
saved  whole  Empires  from  oblivion.  What  more  will  you 
ever  learn  ?  Yet  the  dismal  change  is  ordained,  and  then, 
thin,  meager  Latin  (the  same  for  everybody),  with  small 
shreds  and  patches  of  Greek,  is  thrown  like  a  pauper's  pall 
over  all  your  early  lore ;  instead  of  sweet  knowledge,  vile, 
monkish  doggerel  grammars,  and  graduses.  Dictionaries,  and 
Lexicons,  and  horrible  odds  and  ends  of  dead  languages,  are 
given  you  for  your  portion,  and  down  you  fall,  from  Roman 
story  to  a  three-inch  scrap  of  "  Scriptores  Romani,"  —  from 
Greek  poetry,  down,  down  to  the  cold  rations  of  "  Poetae 
Graeci,"  cut  up  by  commentators,  and  served  out  by  school- 
masters ! 

It  was  not  the  recollection  of  school,  nor  college  learning, 
but  the  rapturous  and  earnest  reading  of  my  childhood  which 
made  me  bend  forward  so  longingly  to  the  plains  of  Troy. 

Away  from  our  people  and  our  horses,  Methley  and  I  went 
loitering  along,  by  the  willowy  banks  of  a  stream  that  crept 
in  quietness  through  the  low,  even  plain.  There  was  no  stir 
of  weather  overhead  —  no  sound  of  rural  labor — no  sign  of 
life  in  the  land,  but  all  the  earth  was  dead  and  still,  as  though 
it  had  lain  for  thrice  a  thousand  years  under  the  leaden  gloom 
of  one  unbroken  Sabbath. 
i8 


34  KINGLAKE 

Softly  and  sadly  the  poor,  dumb,  patient  stream  went  wind- 
ing and  winding  along  through  its  shifting  pathway;  in  some 
places  its  waters  were  parted,  and  then  again,  lower  down, 
they  would  meet  once  more.  I  could  see  that  the  stream 
from  year  to  year  was  finding  itself  new  channels,  and  flowed 
no  longer  in  its  ancient  track,  but  I  knew  that  the  springs 
which  fed  it  were  high  on  Ida  —  the  springs  of  Simois  and 
Scamander ! 

It  was  coldly,  and  thanklessly,  and  with  vacant  unsatisfied 
eyes  that  I  watched  the  slow  coming,  and  the  gliding  away,  of 
the  waters ;  I  tell  myself  now,  as  a  profane  fact,  that  I  did 
indeed  stand  by  that  river  (Methley  gathered  some  seeds  from 
the  bushes  that  grew  there),  but,  since  that  I  am  away  from 
his  banks,  "  divine  Scamander "  has  recovered  the  proper 
mystery  belonging  to  him,  as  an  unseen  deity;  a  kind  of  indis- 
tinctness, like  that  which  belongs  to  far  antiquity,  has  spread 
itself  over  my  memory,  of  the  winding  streams  that  I  saw  with 
these  very  eyes.  One's  mind  regains  in  absence  that  domin- 
ion over  earthly  things  which  has  been  shaken  by  their  rude 
contact;  you  force  yourself  hardily  into  the  material  presence 
of  a  mountain,  or  a  river,  whose  name  belongs  to  poetry  and 
ancient  religion,  rather  than  to  the  external  world ;  your  feel- 
ings wound  up  and  kept  ready  for  some  sort  of  half-expected 
rapture  are  chilled  and  borne  down  for  the  time  under  all  this 
load  of  real  earth  and  water ;  but,  let  these  once  pass  out  of 
sight,  and  then  again  the  old  fanciful  notions  are  restored,  and 
the  mere  realities  which  you  have  just  been  looking  at  are 
thrown  back  so  far  into  distance,  that  the  very  event  of  your 
intrusion  upon  such  scenes  begins  to  look  dim  and  uncertain, 
as  though  it  belonged  to  mythology. 

It  is  not  over  the  plain  before  Troy  that  the  river  now  flows  ; 
its  waters  have  edged  away  far  towards  the  north,  since  the 
day  that  "divine  Scamander"  (whom  the  gods  call  Xanthus) 
went  down  to  do  battle  for  Ilion,  with  Mars,  and  Phoebus,  and 
Latona,  and  Diana  glorying  in  her  arrows,  and  Venus  the 
lover  of  smiles. 

And  now,  when  I  was  vexed  at  the  migration  of  Scamander, 
and  the  total  loss  or  absorption  of  poor  dear  Simois,  how  hap- 
pily Methley  reminded  me  that  Homer  himself  had  warned 
us  of  some  such  changes !     The  Greeks,  in  beginning  their 


EOTHEN  35 

wall,  had  neglected  the  hecatombs  due  to  the  gods ;  and  so, 
after  the  fall  of  Troy,  Apollo  turned  the  paths  of  the  rivers 
that  flow  from  Ida,  and  sent  them  flooding  over  the  wall  till 
all  the  beach  was  smooth,  and  free  from  the  unhallowed  works 
of  the  Greeks.  It  is  true,  I  see  now,  on  looking  to  the  pas- 
sage, that  Neptune,  when  the  work  of  destruction  was  done, 
turned  back  the  rivers  to  their  ancient  ways :  — 

.   .   .  TTora/txoi/s  5'  fTpeipe  veiadai. 
'Ka.p  p6ov  yirep  irpbcrdev  tev  KoKKLppoov  vScjp, 

but  their  old  channels  passing  through  that  hght  pervious  soil 
would  have  been  lost  in  the  nine  days'  flood,  and  perhaps  the 
god,  when  he  willed  to  bring  back  the  rivers  to  their  ancient 
beds,  may  have  done  his  work  but  ill ;  it  is  easier,  they  say,  to 
destroy  than  to  restore. 

We  took  to  our  horses  again,  and  went  southward  towards 
the  very  plain  between  Troy  and  the  tents  of  the  Greeks,  but 
we  rode  by  a  line  at  some  distance  from  the  shore.  Whether 
it  was  that  the  lay  of  the  ground  hindered  my  view  towards 
the  sea,  or  that  I  was  all  intent  upon  Ida,  or  whether  my  mind 
was  in  vacancy,  or  whether,  as  is  most  like,  I  had  strayed 
from  the  Dardan  plains  all  back  to  gentle  England,  there  is 
now  no  knowing,  nor  caring,  but  it  was  —  not  quite  suddenly 
indeed,  but  rather,  as  it  were,  in  the  swelling  and  falling  of  a 
single  wave,  that  the  reality  of  that  very  sea-view,  which  had 
bounded  the  sight  of  the  Greeks,  now  visibly  acceded  to  me, 
and  rolled  full  in  upon  my  brain.  Conceive  how  deeply  that 
eternal  coast-line  —  that  fixed  horizon  —  those  island  rocks 
must  have  graven  their  images  upon  the  minds  of  the  Grecian 
warriors  by  the  time  that  they  had  reached  the  ninth  year  of 
the  siege  !  Conceive  the  strength,  and  the  fanciful  beauty,  of 
the  speeches  with  which  a  whole  army  of  imagining  men  must 
have  told  their  weariness,  and  how  the  sauntering  chiefs  must 
have  whelmed  that  daily,  daily  scene  with  their  deep  Ionian 
curses ! 

And  now  it  was  that  my  eyes  were  greeted  with  a  delightful 
surprise.  Whilst  we  were  at  Constantinople,  Methley  and  I 
had  pored  over  the  map  together ;  we  agreed  that  whatever 
may  have  been  the  exact  site  of  Troy,  the  Grecian  camp  must 
have  been  nearly  opposite  to  the  space  betwixt  the  islands  of 
Imbros  and  Tenedos  :  — 


36  KINGLAKE 

'iilecrarjyvi  TeviSoio  Kal'l/x^pov  iraiiroKo^crcnjt ' 

but  Methley  reminded  me  of  a  passage  in  the  "  Iliad  "  in  which 
Jove  is  represented  as  looking  at  the  scene  of  action  before 
Ilion  from  above  the  Island  of  Samothrace.  Now,  Samothrace, 
according  to  the  map,  appeared  to  be  not  only  out  of  all  see- 
ing distance  from  the  Troad,  but  to  be  entirely  shut  out  from 
it  by  the  intervening  Imbros,  which  is  a  larger  island,  stretch- 
ing its  length  right  athwart  the  line  of  sight  from  Samothrace 
to  Troy.  .  Piously  allowing  that  the  eagle-eye  of  Jove  might 
have  seen  the  strife  even  from  his  own  Olympus,  I  still  felt 
that  if  a  station  were  to  be  chosen  from  which  to  see  the  fight, 
old  Homer,  so  material  in  his  ways  of  thought,  so  averse  from 
all  haziness  and  overreaching,  would  have  meant  to  give  the 
Thunderer  a  station  within  the  reach  of  men's  eyes  from  the 
plains  of  Troy.  I  think  that  this  testing  of  the  poet's  words 
by  map  and  compass  may  have  shaken  a  little  of  my  faith  in 
the  completeness  of  his  knowledge.  Well,  now  I  had  come, 
there  to  the  south  was  Tenedos,  and  here  at  my  side  was 
Imbros,  all  right,  and  according  to  the  map,  but  aloft  over 
Imbros  —  aloft  in  a  far-away  heaven  was  Samothrace,  the 
watch-tower  of  Jove ! 

So  Homer  had  appointed  it,  and  so  it  was ;  the  map  was 
correct  enough,  but  could  not,  like  Homer,  convey  the  whole 
truth.  Thus  vain  and  false  are  the  mere  human  surmises  and 
doubts  which  clash  with  Homeric  writ ! 

Nobody,  whose  mind  had  not  been  reduced  to  the  most  de- 
plorably logical  condition,  could  look  upon  this  beautiful  con- 
gruity  betwixt  the  "  Iliad  "  and  the  material  world,  and  yet  bear 
to  suppose  that  the  poet  may  have  learned  the  features  of  the 
coast  from  mere  hearsay  ;  now  then,  I  believed  —  now  I  knew 
that  Homer  had  passed  along  here  —  that  this  vision  of  Samo- 
thrace overtowering  the  nearer  island  was  common  to  him 
and  to  me. 

After  a  journey  of  some  few  days  by  the  route  of  Adramiti 
and  Pergamo,  we  reached  Smyrna.  The  letters  which  Methley 
here  received  obliged  him  to  return  to  En^rland. 


CHAPTER   V 
Infidel  Smyrna 

SMYRNA,  or  Giaour  Izmir,  as  the  Mussulmans  call  it, 
is  the  main  point  of   commercial  contact  betwixt  Eu- 
rope and  Asia ;  you  are  there  surrounded  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  confused  customs  of  many  and  various  nations 

—  you  see  the  fussy  European  adopting  the  East,  and  calm- 
ing his  restlessness  with  the  long  Turkish  pipe  of  tranquillity 

—  you  see  Jews  offering  services,  and  receiving  blows  ^  —  on 
one  side  you  have  a  fellow  whose  dress  and  beard  would  give 
you  a  good  idea  of  the  true  oriental,  if  it  were  not  for  the 
gobemouche  expression  of  countenance  with  which  he  is 
swallowing  an  article  in  the  National,  and  there,  just  by,  is  a 
genuine  Osmanlee,  smoking  away  with  all  the  majesty  of  a 
Sultan,  but  before  you  have  time  to  admire  sufficiently  his 
tranquil  dignity,  and  his  soft  Asiatic  repose,  the  poor  old 
fellow  is  ruthlessly  "  run  down  "  by  an  English  midshipman, 
who  has  set  sail  on  a  Smyrna  hack.  Such  are  the  incongrui- 
ties of  the  "  infidel  city,"  at  ordinary  times  ;  but  when  I  was 
there,  our  friend  Carrigaholt  had  imported  himself,  and  his 
oddities,  as  an  accession  to  the  other  and  inferior  wonders 
of  Smyrna.  I  was  sitting  alone  in  my  room  one  day  at  Con- 
stantinople, when  I  heard  Methley  approaching  my  door 
with  shouts  of  laughter  and  welcome,  and  presently  I  recog- 

^  The  Jews  of  Smyrna  are  poor,  and  having  little  merchandise  of  their 
own  to  dispose  of  the}'  are  sadly  importunate  in  offering  their  services  as 
intermediaries  ;  their  troublesome  conduct  has  led  to  the  custom  of  beating 
them  in  the  open  streets.  It  is  usual  for  Europeans  to  carry  long  sticks 
with  them  for  the  express  purpose  of  keeping  off  the  chosen  people.  I 
always  felt  ashamed  to  strike  the  poor  fellows  myself,  but  I  confess  to  the 
amusement  with  which  I  witnessed  the  observance  of  this  custom  by  other 
people ;  the  Jew  seldom  got  hurt  much,  for  he  was  always  expecting  the 
blow,  and  was  ready  to  recede  from  it  the  moment  it  came ;  one  could  not 
help  being  rather  gratified  at  seeing  him  bound  away  so  nimbly,  with  his 
long  robes  floating  out  in  the  air,  and  then  again  wheel  round,  and  return 
with  fresh  importunities. 

37 


38  KINGLAKE 

nized  that  peculiar  cry  by  which  our  friend  Carrigaholt  ex- 
presses his  emotions  ;  he  soon  explained  to  us  the  final  causes 
by  which  the  fates  had  worked  out  their  wonderful  purpose 
of  bringing  him  to  Constantinople.  He  was  always,  you 
know,  very  fond  of  sailing,  but  he  had  got  into  such  sad 
scrapes  (including  I  think  a  lawsuit)  on  account  of  his  last 
yacht,  that  he  took  it  into  his  head  to  have  a  cruise  in  a  mer- 
chant vessel.  So  he  went  to  Liverpool,  and  looked  through 
the  craft  lying  ready  to  sail,  till  he  found  a  smart  schooner 
which  perfectly  suited  his  taste  ;  the  destination  of  the  vessel 
was  the  last  thing  he  thought  of,  and  when  he  was  told  that 
she  was  bound  for  Constantinople,  he  merely  assented  to 
that  as  a  part  of  the  arrangement  to  which  he  had  no  objec- 
tion. When  the  vessel  had  sailed,  the  hapless  passenger  dis- 
covered that  his  skipper  carried  on  board  an  enormous  wife 
with  an  inquiring  mind,  and  an  irresistible  tendency  to  impart 
her  opinions.  She  looked  upon  her  guest  as  upon  a  piece  of 
waste  intellect  that  ought  to  be  carefully  tilled.  She  tilled 
him  accordingly.  If  the  Dons  at  Oxford  could  have  seen 
poor  Carrigaholt  thus  absolutely  "attending  lectures  "  in  the 
bay  of  Biscay,  they  would  surely  have  thought  him  suffi- 
ciently punished  for  all  the  wrongs  he  did  them  whilst  he 
was  preparing  himself  under  their  care  for  the  other,  and 
more  boisterous.  University.  The  voyage  did  not  last  more 
than  six  or  eight  weeks,  and  the  philosophy  inflicted  on  Car- 
rigaholt was  not  entirely  fatal  to  him ;  certainly  he  was 
somewhat  emaciated,  and  for  aught  I  know  he  may  have 
subscribed  somewhat  too  largely  to  the  "  Feminine-right-of- 
reason  Society  "  ;  but  it  did  not  appear  that  his  health  had 
been  seriously  affected.  There  was  a  scheme  on  foot,  it 
would  seem,  for  taking  the  passenger  hack  to  England  in  the 
same  schooner  —  a  scheme,  in  fact,  for  keeping  him  perpetu- 
ally afloat,  and  perpetually  saturated  with  arguments  ;  but 
when  Carrigaholt  found  himself  ashore,  and  remembered  that 
the  skipperina  (who  had  imprudently  remained  on  board)  was 
not  there  to  enforce  her  suggestions,  he  was  open  to  the  hints 
of  his  servant  (a  very  sharp  fellow),  who  arranged  a  plan  for 
escaping,  and  finally  brought  off  his  master  to  Giuseppini's 
Hotel. 

Our  friend  afterwards  went  by  sea  to  Smyrna,  and  there 


EOTHEN  39 

he  now  was  in  his  glory.  He  had  a  good,  or  at  all  events  a 
gentleman-like,  judgment  in  matters  of  taste,  and  as  his  great 
object  was  to  surround  himself  with  all  that  his  fancy  could 
dictate,  he  lived  in  a  state  of  perpetual  negotiation ;  he  was 
forever  on  the  point  of  purchasing,  not  only  the  material 
productions  of  the  place,  but  all  sorts  of  such  fine  ware  as 
"intelligence,"  "fidelity,"  and  so  on.  He  was  most  curious, 
however,  as  a  purchaser  of  the  "affections."  Sometimes 
he  would  imagine  that  he  had  a  marital  aptitude,  and  his 
fancy  would  sketch  a  graceful  picture,  in  which  he  appeared 
reclining  on  a  divan,  with  a  beautiful  Greek  woman  fondly 
couched  at  his  feet,  and  soothing  him  with  the  witchery  of 
her  guitar ;  having  satisfied  himself  with  the  ideal  picture 
thus  created,  he  would  pass  into  action :  the  guitar  he  would 
buy  instantly,  and  would  give  such  intimations  of  his  wish 
to  be  wedded  to  a  Greek,  as  could  not  fail  to  produce  great 
excitement  in  the  families  of  the  beautiful  Smyrniotes.  Then 
again  (and  just  in  time  perhaps  to  save  him  from  the  yoke), 
his  dream  would  pass  away,  and  another  would  come  in  its 
stead ;  he  would  suddenly  feel  the  yearnings  of  a  father's 
love,  and  willing  by  force  of  gold  to  transcend  all  natural  pre- 
liminaries, he  would  give  instructions  for  the  purchase  of 
some  dutiful  child  that  could  be  warranted  to  love  him  as  a 
parent.  Then  at  another  time  he  would  be  convinced  that 
the  attachment  of  menials  might  satisfy  the  longings  of  his 
affectionate  heart,  and  thereupon  he  would  give  orders  to 
his  slave-merchant  for  something  in  the  way  of  eternal  fidel- 
ity. You  may  well  imagine  that  this  anxiety  of  Carrigaholt 
to  purchase,  not  only  the  scenery,  but  the  many  dramatis 
personae  belonging  to  his  dreams,  with  all  their  goodness  and 
graces  complete,  necessarily  gave  an  immense  stimulus  to 
the  trade  and  intrigue  of  Smyrna,  and  created  a  demand  for 
human  virtues  which  the  moral  resources  of  the  place  were 
totally  inadequate  to  supply.  Every  day  after  breakfast,  this 
lover  of  the  Good  and  the  Beautiful  held  a  levee,  which  was 
often  exceedingly  amusing  ;  in  his  anteroom  there  would  be 
not  only  the  sellers  of  pipes,  and  slippers,  and  shawls,  and 
such  like  Oriental  merchandise,  not  only  embroiderers,  and 
cunning  workmen  patiently  striving  to  realize  his  visions  of 
Albanian  dresses  —  not  only  the  servants  offering  for  places, 


40  KINGLAKE 

and  the  slave-dealer  tendering  his  sable  ware,  but  there 
would  be  the  Greek  master,  waiting  to  teach  his  pupil  the 
grammar  of  the  soft  Ionian  tongue,  in  which  he  was  to  de- 
light the  wife  of  his  imagination,  and  the  music-master  who 
was  to  teach  him  some  sweet  replies  to  the  anticipated  sounds 
of  the  fancied  guitar ;  and  then  above  all,  and  proudly  emi- 
nent with  undisputed  preference  of  entree,  and  fraught  with 
the  mysterious  tidings  on  which  the  realization  of  the  whole 
dream  might  depend,  was  the  mysterious  match-maker,^  en- 
ticing, and  postponing  the  suitor,  yet  ever  keeping  alive  in 
his  soul  the  love  of  that  pictured  virtue  whose  beauty  (unseen 
by  eyes)  was  half  revealed  to  the  Imagination. 

You  would  have  thought  that  this  practical  dreaming  must 
have  soon  brought  Carrigaholt  to  a  bad  end,  but  he  was  in 
much  less  danger  than  you  would  suppose ;  for  besides  that 
the  new  visions  of  happiness  almost  always  came  in  time 
to  counteract  the  fatal  completion  of  the  preceding  scheme, 
his  high  breeding  and  his  delicately  sensitive  taste  almost 
always  came  to  his  aid,  at  times  when  he  was  left  without 
any  other  protection,  and  the  efficacy  of  these  qualities  in 
keeping  a  man  out  of  harm's  way  is  really  immense ;  in  all 
baseness  and  imposture  there  is  a  coarse,  vulgar  spirit,  which, 
however  artfully  concealed  for  a  time,  must  sooner  or  later 
show  itself  in  some  little  circumstance,  sufficiently  plain  to 
occasion  an  instant  jar  upon  the  minds  of  those  whose  taste 
is  lively  and  true  ;  to  such  men  a  shock  of  this  kind,  disclosing 
the  ugliness  of  a  cheat,  is  more  effectively  convincing  than 
any  mere  proofs  could  be. 

Thus  guarded  from  isle  to  isle,  and  through  Greece,  and 
through  Albania,  this  practical  Plato,  with  a  purse  in  his 
hand,  carried  on  his  mad  chase  after  the  Good  and  the  Beau- 
tiful, and  yet  returned  in  safety  to  his  home.  But  now,  poor 
fellow !  the  lowly  grave,  that  is  the  end  of  men's  romantic 
hopes,  has  closed  over  all  his  rich  fancies,  and  all  his  high 
aspirations  ;  he  is  utterly  married  !  No  more  hope,  no  more 
change  for  him  —  no  more  relays  —  he  must  go  on  Vetturini- 
wise  to  the  appointed  end  of  his  journey ! 

Smyrna,  I  think,  may  be  called  the  chief  town  and  capital 

1  Marriages  in  the  East  are  arranged  by  professed  match-makers ; 
many  of  these,  I  believe,  are  Jewesses. 


EOTHEN  41 

of  the  Grecian  race,  against  which  you  will  be  cautioned  so 
carefully  as  soon  as  you  touch  the  Levant.  You  will  say 
that  I  ought  not  to  confound  as  one  people  the  Greeks  liv- 
ing under  a  constitutional  government,  with  the  unfortunate 
Rayahs  who  "groan  under  the  Turkish  yoke";  but  I  can't 
see  that  political  events  have  hitherto  produced  any  strongly 
marked  difference  of  character.  If  I  could  venture  to  rely 
(which  I  feel  that  I  cannot  at  all  do)  upon  my  own  observa- 
tion, I  should  tell  you  that  there  was  more  heartiness  and 
strength  in  the  Greeks  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  than  in  those 
of  the  new  kingdom  —  the  truth  is,  that  there  is  a  greater  field 
for  commercial  enterprise,  and  even  for  Greek  ambitions,  under 
the  Ottoman  scepter,  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  dominions 
of  Otho.  Indeed,  the  people,  by  their  frequent  migrations 
from  the  limits  of  the  constitutional  kingdom,  to  the  territories 
of  the  Porte,  seem  to  show,  that,  on  the  whole,  they  prefer 
"groaning  under  the  Turkish  yoke"  to  the  honor  of  "being 
the  only  true  source  of  legitimate  power"  in  their  own  land. 

For  myself,  I  love  the  race ;  in  spite  of  all  their  vices,  and 
even  in  spite  of  all  their  meannesses,  I  remember  the  blood 
that  is  in  them,  and  still  love  the  Greeks.  The  Osmanlees 
are,  of  course,  by  nature,  by  religion,  and  by  politics,  the 
strong  foes  of  the  Hellenic  people,  and  as  the  Greeks,  poor 
fellows  !  happen  to  be  a  little  deficient  in  some  of  the  virtues 
which  facilitate  the  transaction  of  commercial  business  (such 
as  veracity,  fidelity,  etc.),  it  naturally  follows  that  they  are 
highly  unpopular  with  the  European  merchants.  Now,  these 
are  the  persons  through  whom,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
is  derived  the  greater  part  of  the  information  which  you 
gather  in  the  Levant,  and  therefore  you  must  make  up  your 
mind  to  hear  an  almost  universal  and  unbroken  testimony 
against  the  character  of  the  people  whose  ancestors  invented 
Virtue.  And  strange  to  say,  the  Greeks  themselves  do  not 
attempt  to  disturb  this  general  unanimity  of  opinion  by  any 
dissent  on  their  part.  Question  a  Greek  on  the  subject,  and 
he  will  tell  you  at  once  that  the  people  are  "traditori,"  and 
will  then,  perhaps,  endeavor  to  shake  off  his  fair  share  of 
the  imputation  by  asserting  that  his  father  had  been  drago- 
man to  some  foreign  embassy,  and  that  he  (the  son),  there- 
fore, by  the  law  of  nations,  had  ceased  to  be  Greek. 


42  KINGLAKE 

"  E  dunque  no  siete  traditore  ?  " 

"  Possibile,  Signor,  ma  almeno  lo  no  sono  Greco." 

Not  even  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  the  Hellenic 
kingdom  are  free  from  the  habit  of  depreciating  their  brethren. 
I  recollect,  that  at  one  of  the  ports  in  Syria,  a  Greek  vessel 
was  rather  unfairly  kept  in  quarantine  by  order  of  the  Board 
of  Health,  which  consisted  entirely  of  Europeans.  A  consu- 
lar agent  from  the  kingdom  of  Greece  had  lately  hoisted  his 
flag  in  the  town,  and  the  captain  of  the  vessel  drew  up  a  re- 
monstrance, which  he  requested  his  consul  to  present  to  the 
Board. 

"  Now,  is  this  reasonable  .-'"  said  the  consul,  "  is  it  reason- 
able that  I  should  place  myself  in  collision  with  all  the  princi- 
pal European  gentlemen  of  the  place  for  the  sake  of  you,  a 
Greek .'' "  The  skipper  was  greatly  vexed  at  the  failure  of 
his  application,  but  he  scarcely  even  questioned  the  justice  of 
the  ground  which  his  consul  had  taken.  Well,  it  happened 
some  time  afterwards,  that  I  found  myself  at  the  same  port, 
having  gone  thither  with  the  view  of  embarking  for  the  port 
of  Syra.  I  was  anxious  of  course  to  elude  as  carefully  as  pos- 
sible the  quarantine  detention  which  threatened  me  on  my 
arrival,  and  hearing  that  the  Greek  consul  had  a  brother 
who  was  a  man  in  authority  at  Syra,  I  got  myself  presented 
to  the  former,  and  took  the  liberty  of  asking  him  to  give  me 
such  a  letter  of  introduction  to  his  relative  at  Syra,  as  might 
possibly  have  the  effect  of  shortening  the  term  of  my  quar- 
antine. He  acceded  to  this  request  with  the  utmost  kindness 
and  courtesy  ;  but  when  he  replied  to  my  thanks  by  saying 
that  "  in  serving  an  Englishman  he  was  doing  no  more  than 
his  strict  duty  commanded,"  not  even  my  gratitude  could  pre- 
vent me  from  calling  to  mind  his  treatment  of  the  poor  cap- 
tain who  had  the  misfortune  of  not  being  alien  in  blood  to  his 
consul,  and  appointed  protector. 

I  think  that  the  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
character  of  the  Greeks  has  been  occasioned,  in  great  meas- 
ure, by  the  doctrines  and  practice  of  their  religion.  The 
Greek  Church  has  animated  the  Muscovite  peasant,  and  in- 
spired him  with  hopes  and  ideas,  which,  however  humble,  are 
still  better  than  none  at  all  ;  but  the  faith,  and  the  forms, 
and  the  strange  ecclesiastical  literature  which  act  so  advanta- 


EOTHEN  43 

geously  upon  the  mere  clay  of  the  Russian  serf,  seem  to  hang 
like  lead  upon  the  ethereal  spirit  of  the  Greek.  Never,  in 
any  part  of  the  world,  have  I  seen  religious  performances  so 
painful  to  witness  as  those  of  the  Greeks.  The  horror,  how- 
ever, with  which  one  shudders  at  their  worship  is  attributable, 
in  some  measure,  to  the  mere  effect  of  costume.  In  all  the 
Ottoman  dominions,  and  very  frequently,  too,  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Otho,  the  Greeks  wear  turbans,  or  other  head-dresses,  and 
shave  their  heads,  leaving  only  a  rat's-tail  at  the  crown  of 
the  head ;  they  of  course  keep  themselves  covered  within 
doors,  as  well  as  abroad,  and  never  remove  their  head-gear 
merely  on  account  of  being  in  a  church ;  but  when  the 
Greek  stops  to  worship  at  his  proper  shrine,  then,  and  then 
only,  he  always  uncovers ;  and  as  you  see  him  thus  with 
shaven  skull,  and  savage  tail  pending  from  his  crown,  kissing 
a  thing  of  wood  and  glass,  and  cringing  with  base  prostra- 
tions, and  apparent  terror,  before  a  miserable  picture,  you 
see  superstition  in  a  shape,  which,  outwardly  at  least,  looks 
sadly  abject  and  repulsive. 


The  fasts,  too,  of  the  Greek  Church  produce  an  ill  effect 
upon  the  character  of  the  people,  for  they  are  carried  to  such 
an  extent,  as  to  bring  about  a  bona  fide  mortification  of  the 
flesh ;  the  febrile  irritation  of  the  frame  operating  in  con- 
junction with  the  depression  of  spirits  occasioned  by  absti- 
nence, will  so  far  answer  the  objects  of  the  rite,  as  to  engender 
some  religious  excitement,  but  this  is  of  a  morbid  and  gloomy 
character,  and  it  seems  to  be  certain,  that  along  with  the  in- 
crease of  sanctity,  there  comes  a  fiercer  desire  for  the  perpe- 
tration of  dark  crimes.  The  number  of  murders  committed 
during  Lent  is  greater,  I  am  told,  than  at  any  other  time  of 
the  year.  A  man  under  the  influence  of  a  bean  dietary  (for 
this  is  the  principal  food  of  the  Greeks  during  their  fasts) 
will  be  in  an  apt  humor  for  enriching  the  shrine  of  his  Saint, 
and  passing  a  knife  through  his  next-door  neighbor.  The 
moneys  deposited  upon  the  shrines  are  appropriated  by 
priests ;  the  priests  are  married  men,  and  have  families  to 
provide  for:  they  "take  the  good  with  the  bad,"  and  continue 
to  recommend  fasts. 


44  KINGLAKE 

Then,  too,  the  Greek  Church  enjoins  her  followers  to  keep 
holy  such  a  vast  number  of  Saints'  days,  as  practically  to 
shorten  the  lives  of  the  people  very  materially.  I  believe 
that  one  third  of  the  number  of  days  in  the  year  are  "  kept 
holy,"  or  rather,  kept  stupid,  in  honor  of  the  Saints  ;  no  great 
portion  of  the  time  thus  set  apart  is  spent  in  religious  exer- 
cises, and  the  people  don't  betake  themselves  to  any  ani- 
mating pastimes,  which  might  serve  to  strengthen  the  frame, 
or  invigorate  the  mind,  or  exalt  the  taste.  On  the  contrary, 
the  Saints'  days  of  the  Greeks  in  Smyrna  are  passed  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  Sabbaths  of  well-behaved  Protestant 
housemaids  in  London  —  that  is  to  say,  in  a  steady  and  serious 
contemplation  of  street  scenery.  The  men  perform  this  duty 
at  the  doors  of  their  houses, — the  women  at  the  windows, 
which  the  custom  of  Greek  towns  has  so  decidedly  appropriated 
to  them  as  the  proper  station  of  their  sex,  that  a  man  would  be 
looked  upon  as  utterly  effeminate  if  he  ventured  to  choose  that 
situation  for  the  keeping  of  the  Saints'  days.  I  was  present  one 
day  at  a  treaty  for  the  hire  of  some  apartments  at  Smyrna, 
which  was  carried  on  between  Carrigaholt  and  the  Greek 
woman  to  whom  the  rooms  belonged.  Carrigaholt  objected 
that  the  windows  commanded  no  view  of  the  street ;  immedi- 
ately the  brow  of  the  majestic  matron  was  clouded,  and  with 
all  the  scorn  of  a  Spartan  mother  she  coolly  asked  Carriga- 
holt and  said,  "  Art  thou  a  tender  damsel  that  thou  wouldst 
sit  and  gaze  from  windows  ?  "  The  man  whom  she  addressed, 
however,  had  not  gone  to  Greece  with  any  intention  of  pla- 
cing himself  under  the  laws  of  Lycurgus,  and  was  not  to  be 
diverted  from  his  views  by  a  Spartan  rebuke,  so  he  took  care 
to  find  himself  windows  after  his  own  heart,  and  there,  I 
believe,  for  many  a  month,  he  kept  the  Saints'  days,  and  all 
the  days  intervening,  after  the  fashion  of  Grecian  women. 

Oh  !  let  me  be  charitable  to  all  who  write,  and  to  all  who 
lecture,  and  to  all  who  preach,  since  even  I,  a  layman  not 
forced  to  write  at  all,  can  hardly  avoid  chiming  in  with  some 
tuneful  cant !  I  have  had  the  heart  to  talk  about  the  perni- 
cious effects  of  the  Greek  holidays,  to  which  I  owe  some  of 
my  most  beautiful  visions !  I  will  let  the  words  stand,  as  an 
humbling  proof  that  I  am  subject  to  that  immutable  law 
which  compels  a  man  with  a  pen  in  his  hand  to  be  uttering 


EOTHEN  45 

every  now  and  then  some  sentiment  not  his  own.  It  seems  as 
though  the  power  of  expressing  regrets  and  desires  by  written 
symbols  were  coupled  with  a  condition  that  the  writer  should 
from  time  to  time  express  the  regrets  and  desires  of  other 
people  —  as  though,  like  a  French  peasant  under  the  old 
regime,  one  were  bound  to  perform  a  certain  amount  of  work 
upon  the  public  highways.  I  rebel  as  stoutly  as  I  can  against 
this  horrible  corvee  —  I  try  not  to  deceive  you  —  I  try  to  set 
down  the  thoughts  which  are  fresh  within  me,  and  not  to 
pretend  any  wishes,  or  griefs,  which  I  do  not  really  feel,  but 
no  sooner  do  I  cease  from  watchfulness  in  this  regard,  than 
my  right  hand  is,  as  it  were,  seized  by  some  false  demon,  and 
even  now,  you  see,  I  have  been  forced  to  put  down  such  words 
and  sentences  as  I  ought  to  have  written  if  really  and  truly 
I  had  wished  to  disturb  the  Saints'  days  of  the  beautiful 
Smyrniotes ! 

Which,  Heaven  forbid !  for  as  you  move  through  the  nar- 
row streets  of  the  city,  at  these  times  of  festival,  the  transom- 
shaped  windows  suspended  over  your  head,  on  either  side,  are 
filled  with  the  beautiful  descendants  of  the  old  Ionian  race ; 
all  (even  yonder  Empress  that  sits  throned  at  the  window  of 
that  humblest  mud  cottage)  are  attired  with  seeming  magnifi- 
cence ;  their  classic  heads  are  crowned  with  scarlet,  and 
loaded  with  jewels,  or  coins  of  gold — the  whole  wealth  of 
the  wearers ;  ^  —  their  features  are  touched  with  a  savage 
pencil,  which  hardens  the  outline  of  eyes  and  eyebrows,  and 
lends  an  unnatural  fire  to  the  stern,  grave  looks  with  which 
they  pierce  your  brain.  Endure  their  fiery  eyes  as  best  you 
may,  and  ride  on  slowly  and  reverently,  for  facing  you  from 
the  side  of  the  transom,  that  looks  long-wise  through  the 
street,  you  see  the  one  glorious  shape  transcendent  in  its 
beauty;  you  see  the  massive  braid  of  hair  as  it  catches  a 
touch  of  light  on  its  jetty  surface — and  the  broad,  calm, 
angry  brow  —  the  large  black  eyes,  deep  set,  and  self-relying 
like  the  eyes  of  a  conqueror,  with  their  rich  shadows  of 
thought  lying  darkly  around  them,  —  you  see  the  thin  fiery 

^  A  Greek  woman  wears  her  whole  fortune  upon  her  person,  in  the  shape 
of  jewels,  or  gold  coins ;  I  believe  that  this  mode  of  investment  is  adopted 
in  great  measure  for  safety's  sake.  It  has  the  advantage  of  enabling  a 
suitor  to  reckon,  as  well  as  to  admire,  the  objects  of  his  affection. 


46  KINGLAKE 

nostril,  and  the  bold  line  of  the  chin  and  throat  disclosing  all 
the  fierceness,  and  all  the  pride,  passion,  and  power,  that  can 
live  along  with  the  rare  womanly  beauty  of  those  sweetly 
turned  lips.  But  then  there  is  a  terrible  stillness  in  this 
breathing  image  ;  it  seems  like  the  stillness  of  a  savage  that 
sits  intent  and  brooding,  day  by  day,  upon  some  one  fearful 
scheme  of  vengeance ;  but  yet  more  like  it  seems  to  the  still- 
ness of  an  Immortal,  whose  will  must  be  known,  and  obeyed 
without  sign  or  speech.  Bow  down  !  —  Bow  down,  and  adore 
the  young  Persephone,  transcendent  Queen  of  Shades! 


CHAPTER   VI 

Greek  Mariners 

I  SAILED  from  Smyrna  in  the  Amphitrite,  a  Greek  brig- 
antine,  which  was  confidently  said  to  be  bound  for  the 
coast  of  Syria,  but  I  knew  that  this  announcement  was 
not  to  be  reHed  upon  with  positive  certainty,  for  the  Greek 
mariners  are  practically  free  from  the  stringency  of  ship's 
papers,  and  where  they  will,  there  they  go.  However,  I  had 
the  whole  of  the  cabin  for  myself  and  my  attendant,  Mysseri, 
subject  only  to  the  society  of  the  Captain  at  the  hour  of  din- 
ner ;  being  at  ease  in  this  respect,  being  furnished  too  with 
plenty  of  books,  and  finding  an  unfailing  source  of  interest 
in  the  thorough  Greekness  of  my  Captain  and  my  crew,  I 
felt  less  anxious  than  most  people  would  have  been  about 
the  probable  length  of  the  cruise ;  I  knew  enough  of  Greek 
navigation  to  be  sure  that  our  vessel  would  cling  to  Earth 
like  a  child  to  its  mother's  knee,  and  that  I  should  touch  at 
many  an  isle  before  I  set  foot  upon  the  Syrian  coast ;  but  I 
had  no  invidious  preference  for  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa,  and 
I  felt  that  I  could  defy  the  winds  to  blow  me  upon  a  coast 
that  was  blank,  and  void  of  interest.  My  patience  was  ex- 
tremely useful  to  me,  for  the  cruise  altogether  endured  some 
forty  days,  and  that  in  the  midst  of  winter. 

According  to  me,  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  Greeks 
(male  Greeks)  are  the  mariners,  because  their  pursuits  and 
their  social  condition  are  so  nearly  the  same  as  those  of  their 
glorious  ancestors ;  you  will  say,  that  the  occupation  of  com- 
merce must  have  smoothed  down  the  salience  of  their  minds, 
and  this  would  be  so  perhaps,  if  their  mercantile  affairs  were 
conducted  according  to  the  fixed  businesslike  routine  of 
Europeans ;  but  the  ventures  of  the  Greeks  are  surrounded 
by  such  a  multitude  of  imagined  dangers,  and  (from  the 
absence  of  regular  marts  in  which  the  true  value  of  mer- 

47 


48  KINGLAKE 

chandise  can  be  ascertained)  are  so  entirely  speculative,  and, 
besides,  are  conducted  in  a  manner  so  wholly  determined 
upon  by  the  wayward  fancies  and  wishes  of  the  crew,  that 
they  belong  to  enterprise  rather  than  to  industry,  and  are 
very  far  indeed  from  tending  to  deaden  any  freshness  of 
character. 

The  vessels  in  which  war  and  piracy  were  carried  on  during 
the  years  of  the  Greek  Revolution  became  merchantmen  at 
the  end  of  the  war  —  but  the  tactics  of  the  Greeks,  as  naval 
warriors,  were  so  exceedingly  cautious,  and  their  habits,  as 
commercial  mariners,  are  so  wild,  that  the  change  has  been 
more  slight  than  you  might  imagine.  The  first  care  of 
Greeks  (Greek  Rayahs)  when  they  undertake  a  shipping 
enterprise  is  to  procure  for  their  vessel  the  protection  of 
some  European  Power;  this  is  easily  managed  by  a  little 
intriguing  with  the  Dragoman  of  one  of  the  Embassies  at 
Constantinople,  and  the  craft  soon  glories  in  the  ensign  of 
Russia,  or  the  dazzling  Tricolor,  or  the  Union  Jack ;  thus, 
to  the  great  delight  of  her  crew,  she  enters  upon  the  ocean 
world  with  a  flaring  lie  at  her  peak,  but  the  appearance  of 
the  vessel  does  no  discredit  to  the  borrowed  flag;  she  is 
frailer,  perhaps,  than  the  rest  of  her  sex,  but  she  does  not 
look  the  worse  for  this  in  harbor;  she  is  gracefully  built, 
and  smartly  rigged ;  she  always  carries  guns,  and,  in  short, 
gives  good  promise  of  mischief  and  speed. 

The  privileges  attached  to  the  vessel  and  her  crew,  by 
virtue  of  the  borrowed  flag,  are  so  great  as  to  imply  a  degree 
of  liberty  greater  than  that  which  is  enjoyed  by  individuals 
in  our  more  strictly  civilized  countries,  so  that  there  is  no 
pretense  for  saying  that  the  development  of  the  true  char- 
acter belonging  to  Greek  mariners  is  prevented  by  the  domin- 
ion of  the  Ottomans ;  they  are  free,  too,  from  the  power  of 
the  great  capitalist,  whose  imperial  sway  is  more  withering 
than  despotism  itself  to  the  enterprises  of  humble  venturers. 
The  capital  employed  is  supplied  by  those  whose  labor  is  to 
render  it  productive ;  the  crew  receive  no  wages,  but  have  all 
a  share  in  the  venture,  and  in  general,  I  believe,  they  are  the 
owners  of  the  whole  freight ;  they  choose  a  Captain,  to  whom 
they  entrust  just  power  enough  to  keep  the  vessel  on  her 
course  in  fine  weather,  but  not  quite  enough  for  a  gale  of 


EOTHEN  49 

wind ;  they  also  elect  a  cook  and  a  mate ;  the  cook  whom  we 
had  on  board  was  particularly  careful  about  the  ship's  reckon- 
ing, and  when,  under  the  influence  of  the  keen  sea-breezes, 
we  grew  fondly  expectant  of  an  instant  dinner,  the  great 
author  of  pilafs  would  be  standing  on  deck  with  an  ancient 
quadrant  in  his  hands,  calmly  affecting  to  take  an  observa- 
tion. But  then,  to  make  up  for  this,  the  Captain  would  be 
exercising  a  controlling  influence  over  the  soup,  so  that  all, 
in  the  end,  went  well.  Our  mate  was  a  Hydriot,  a  native  of 
that  island  rock  which  grows  nothing  but  mariners  and  mari- 
ners' wives.  His  character  seemed  to  be  exactly  that  which 
is  generally  attributed  to  the  Hydriot  race :  he  was  fierce, 
and  gloomy,  and  lonely  in  his  ways.  One  of  his  principal 
duties  seemed  to  be  that  of  acting  as  counter-captain,  or 
leader  of  the  opposition,  denouncing  the  first  symptoms  of 
tyranny,  and  protecting  even  the  cabin-boy  from  oppression. 
Besides  this,  when  things  went  smoothly,  he  would  begin  to 
prognosticate  evil,  in  order  that  his  more  light-hearted  com- 
rades might  not  be  puffed  up  with  the  seeming  good  fortune 
of  the  moment. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  the  personal  freedom  of  these  sailors, 
who  own  no  superiors  except  those  of  their  own  choice,  is  as 
like  as  may  be  to  that  of  their  seafaring  ancestors.  And 
even  in  their  mode  of  navigation  they  have  admitted  no  such 
entire  change  as  you  would  suppose  probable ;  it  is  true  that 
they  have  so  far  availed  themselves  of  modern  discoveries  as 
to  look  to  the  compass  instead  of  the  stars,  and  that  they 
have  superseded  the  immortal  Gods  of  their  forefathers  by 
St.  Nicholas  in  his  glass  case,^  but  they  are  not  yet  so  con- 
fident either  in  their  needle  or  their  Saint  as  to  love  an  open 
sea,  and  they  still  hug  their  shores  as  fondly  as  the  Argonauts 
of  old.  Indeed,  they  have  a  most  unsailor-like  love  for  the 
land,  and  I  really  believe  that  in  a  gale  of  wind  they  would 
rather  have  a  rock-bound  coast  on  their  lee,  than  no  coast  at 
all.  According  to  the  notions  of  an  English  seaman,  this  kind 
of  navigation  would  soon  bring  the  vessel  on  which  it  might 
be  practised  to  an  evil    end.     The  Greek,  however,  is  unac- 

^St.  Nicholas  is  the  great  patron  of  Greek  sailors;  a  small  picture  of 
him  enclosed  in  a  glass  case  is  hung  up  like  a  barometer  at  one  end  of  the 
cabin. 


50  KINGLAKE 

countably  successful  in  escaping  the  consequences  of  being 
"jammed  in,"  as  it  is  called,  upon  a  lee  shore;  he  is  favored, 
I  suppose,  by  the  nature  of  the  coasts  along  which  he  sails, 
especially  those  of  the  many  islands  through  which  he  threads 
his  way  in  the  -^gean,  for  there  is  generally,  I  think,  deep 
water  home  to  the  very  cliffs,  and  besides  there  are  innumer- 
able coves  in  which  the  dexterous  sailor,  who  knows  and  loves 
the  land  so  well,  will  contrive  to  find  a  shelter. 

These  seamen,  like  their  forefathers,  rely  upon  no  winds 
unless  they  are  right  astern,  or  on  the  quarter ;  they  rarely  go 
"  on  "  a  wind  if  it  blows  at  all  fresh,  and  if  the  adverse  breeze 
approaches  to  a  gale,  they  at  once  fumigate  St.  Nicholas,  and 
put  up  the  helm.  The  consequence,  of  course,  is,  that  under 
the  ever-varying  winds  of  the  JEgtan  they  are  blown  about  in 
the  most  whimsical  manner.  I  used  to  think  that  Ulysses, 
with  his  ten  years'  voyage,  had  taken  his  time  in  making 
Ithaca,  but  my  experience  in  Greek  navigation  soon  made  me 
understand  that  he  had  had,  in  point  of  fact,  a  pretty  good 
"  average  passage." 

Such  are  now  the  mariners  of  the  vEgean ;  free,  equal 
amongst  themselves,  navigating  the  seas  of  their  forefathers 
with  the  same  heroic  and  yet  childlike  spirit  of  venture,  the 
same  half-trustful  reliance  upon  heavenly  aid,  they  are  the 
liveliest  images  of  true  old  Greeks  that  time  and  the  new 
religions  have  spared  to  us. 

With  one  exception,  our  crew  were  "a  solemn  company,"^ 
and  yet,  sometimes,  when  all  things  went  well,  they  would 
relax  their  austerity,  and  show  a  disposition  to  fun,  or  rather 
to  quiet  humor ;  when  this  happened,  they  invariably  had 
recourse  to  one  of  their  number,  who  went  by  the  name  of 
"  Admiral  Nicolou  "  ;  he  was  an  amusing  fellow,  the  poorest, 
I  believe,  and  the  least  thoughtful  of  the  crew,  but  full  of  rich 
humor ;  his  oft-told  story  of  the  events  by  which  he  had 
gained  the  sobriquet  of  "  Admiral  "  never  failed  to  delight  his 
hearers,  and  when  he  was  desired  to  repeat  it  for  my  benefit, 
the  rest  of  the  crew  crowded  round  with  as  much  interest  as 
if  they  were  listening  to  the  tale  for  the  first  time.  A  number 
of  Greek  brigs  and  brigantines  were  at  anchor  in  the  bay  of 
Beyrout;   a  festival  of  some  kind,  particularly  attractive  to 

^  Hanmer. 


EOTHEN  51 

the  sailors,  was  going  on  in  the  town,  and  whether  with  or 
without  leave  I  know  not,  but  the  crews  of  all  the  craft, 
except  that  of  Nicolou,  had  gone  ashore  ;  on  board  his  vessel, 
however,  which  carried  dollars,  there  was,  it  would  seem,  a 
more  careful,  or  more  influential  Captain,  who  was  able  to 
enforce  his  determination,  that  one  man,  at  least,  should  be 
left  on  board.  Nicolou's  good  nature  was  with  him  so  power- 
ful an  impulse,  that  he  could  not  resist  the  delight  of  volun- 
teering to  stay  with  the  vessel,  whilst  his  comrades  went 
ashore  ;  his  proposal  was  accepted,  and  the  crew  and  Captain 
soon  left  him  alone  on  the  deck  of  his  vessel.  The  sailors, 
gathering  together  from  their  several  ships,  were  amusing 
themselves  in  the  town,  when  suddenly  there  came  down  from 
betwixt  the  mountains  one  of  those  sudden  hurricanes  which 
sometimes  occur  in  southern  climes  ;  Nicolou's  vessel,  together 
with  four  of  the  craft  which  had  been  left  unmanned,  broke 
from  her  moorings,  and  all  five  of  the  vessels  were  carried  out 
seaward ;  the  town  is  on  a  salient  point  at  the  southern  side 
of  the  Bay,  so  that  "  the  Admiral "  was  close  under  the  eyes 
of  the  inhabitants  and  the  shore-gone  sailors,  when  he  gal- 
lantly drifted  out  at  the  head  of  his  little  fleet ;  if  Nicolou 
could  not  entirely  control  the  maneuvers  of  the  Squadron, 
there  was  at  least  no  human  power  to  divide  his  authority, 
and  thus  it  was  that  he  took  rank  as  "  Admiral."  Nicolou 
cut  his  cable,  and  thus  for  the  time  saved  his  vessel ;  for  the 
rest  of  the  flee*",  under  his  command,  were  quickly  wrecked, 
whilst  "the  Admiral"  got  away  clear  to  the  open  sea.  The 
violence  of  the  squall  soon  passed  off,  but  Nicolou  felt  that 
his  chance  of  one  day  resigning  his  high  duties  as  an  admiral 
for  the  enjoyments  of  private  life  on  the  steadfast  shore 
mainly  depended  upon  his  success  in  working  the  brig  with 
his  own  hands,  so  after  calling  on  his  namesake,  the  saint  (not 
for  the  first  time,  I  take  it),  he  got  up  some  canvas,  and  took 
the  helm  ;  he  became  equal,  he  told  us,  to  a  score  of  Nicolous, 
and  the  vessel,  as  he  said,  was  "  manned  with  his  terrors." 
For  two  days,  it  seemed,  he  cruised  at  large,  but  at  last,  either 
by  his  seamanship,  or  by  the  natural  instinct  of  the  Greek 
mariners  for  finding  land,  he  brought  his  craft  close  to  an 
unknown  shore,  which  promised  well  for  his  purpose  of  run- 
ning in  the  vessel,  and  he  was  preparing  to  give  her  a  good 


52  KINGLAKE 

berth  on  the  beach,  when  he  saw  a  gang  of  ferocious-looking 
fellows  coming  down  to  the  point  for  which  he  was  making. 
Poor  Nicolou  was  a  perfectly  unlettered  and  untutored  genius, 
and  for  that  reason,  perhaps,  a  keen  listener  to  tales  of  terror  ; 
his  mind  had  been  impressed  with  some  horrible  legend  of 
cannibalism,  and  he  now  did  not  doubt  for  a  moment  that  the 
men  awaiting  him  on  the  beach  were  the  monsters  at  whom 
he  had  shuddered  in  the  days  of  his  childhood.  The  coast 
on  which  Nicolou  was  running  his  vessel  was  somewhere,  I 
fancy,  at  the  foot  of  the  Anzairie  mountains,  and  the  fellows 
who  were  preparing  to  give  him  a  reception  were  probably 
very  rough  specimens  of  humanity;  it  is  likely  enough  that 
they  may  have  given  themselves  the  trouble  of  putting  "the 
Admiral"  to  death,  for  the  purpose  of  simplifying  their  claim 
to  the  vessel,  and  preventing  litigation,  but  the  notion  of  their 
cannibalism  was  of  course  utterly  unfounded;  Nicolou's  terror 
had,  however,  so  graven  the  idea  on  his  mind,  that  he  could 
never  afterwards  dismiss  it.  Having  once  determined  the 
character  of  his  expectant  hosts,  the  Admiral  naturally  thought 
that  it  would  be  better  to  keep  their  dinner  waiting  any  length 
of  time,  than  to  attend  their  feast  in  the  character  of  a  roasted 
Greek ;  so  he  put  about  his  vessel,  and  tempted  the  deep  once 
more.  After  a  farther  cruise  the  lonely  commander  ran  his 
vessel  upon  some  rocks  at  another  part  of  the  coast,  where 
she  was  lost  with  all  her  treasure,  and  Nicolou  was  but  too 
glad  to  scramble  ashore,  though  without  one  dollar  in  his 
girdle.  These  adventures  seem  fiat  enough  as  I  repeat  them, 
but  the  hero  expressed  his  terrors  by  such  odd  terms  of 
speech,  and  such  strangely  humorous  gestures,  that  the  story 
came  from  his  lips  with  an  unfailing  zest,  so  that  the  crew, 
who  had  heard  the  tale  so  often,  could  still  enjoy  to  their 
hearts  the  rich  fright  of  the  Admiral,  and  still  shuddered  with 
unabated  horror  when  he  came  to  the  loss  of  the  dollars. 

The  power  of  listening  to  long  stories  (for  which  by  the  by 
I  am  giving  you  large  credit)  is  common,  I  fancy,  to  most 
sailors,  and  the  Greeks  have  it  to  a  great  degree,  for  they  can 
be  perfectly  patient  under  a  narrative  of  two  or  three  hours' 
duration.  These  long  stories  are  mostly  founded  upon  Ori- 
ental topics,  and  in  one  of  them  I  recognized  with  some  alter- 
ations an  old  friend  of  the  "  Arabian  Nights  " ;  I  inquired  as 


EOTHEN  53 

to  the  source  from  which  the  story  had  been  derived,  and  the 
crew  all  agreed  that  it  had  been  handed  down  unwritten  from 
Greek  to  Greek  ;  their  account  of  the  matter  does  not,  perhaps, 
go  very  far  towards  showing  the  real  origin  of  the  tale,  but 
when  I  afterwards  took  up  the  "  Arabian  Nights,"  I  became 
strongly  impressed  with  a  notion  that  they  must  have  sprung 
from  the  brain  of  a  Greek.  It  seems  to  me  that  these  stories, 
whilst  they  disclose  a  complete  and  habitual  knowledge  of 
things  Asiatic,  have  about  them  so  much  of  freshness  and  life, 
so  much  of  the  stirring  and  volatile  European  character,  that 
they  cannot  have  owed  their  conception  to  a  mere  Oriental, 
who,  for  creative  purposes,  is  a  thing  dead  and  dry  —  a  mental 
mummy  that  may  have  been  a  live  King  just  after  the  flood, 
but  has  since  lain  embalmed  in  spice.  At  the  time  of  the 
Caliphat  the  Greek  race  was  familiar  enough  to  Bagdad ; 
they  were  the  merchants,  the  pedlers,  the  barbers  and 
intriguers-general  of  southwestern  Asia,  and  therefore  the 
Oriental  materials  with  which  the  Arabian  tales  are  wrought 
must  have  been  completely  at  the  command  of  the  inventive 
people  to  whom  I  would  attribute  their  origin. 

We  were  nearing  the  isle  of  Cyprus,  when  there  arose  half 
a  gale  of  wind,  with  a  heavy,  chopping  sea ;  my  Greek  seamen 
considered  that  the  weather  amounted  not  to  a  half,  but  to  an 
integral  gale  of  wind  at  the  very  least,  so  they  put  up  the 
helm,  and  scudded  for  twenty  hours ;  when  we  neared  the 
mainland  of  Anadoli,  the  gale  ceased,  and  a  favorable  breeze 
sprang  up,  which  brought  us  off  Cyprus  once  more.  After- 
wards the  wind  changed  again,  but  we  were  still  able  to  lay 
our  course  by  sailing  close-hauled. 

We  were,  at  length,  in  such  a  position,  that  by  holding  on 
our  course  for  about  half  an  hour,  we  should  get  under  the 
lee  of  the  island,  and  find  ourselves  in  smooth  water ;  but  the 
wind  had  been  gradually  freshening,  it  now  blew  hard,  and 
there  was  a  heavy  sea  running. 

As  the  grounds  for  alarm  arose,  the  crew  gathered  together 
in  one  close  group ;  they  stood  pale  and  grim  under  their 
hooded  capotes  like  monks  awaiting  a  massacre,  anxiously 
looking  by  turns  along  the  pathway  of  the  storm,  and  then 
upon  each  other,  and  then  upon  the  eye  of  the  Captain,  who 
stood  by  the  helmsman.     Presently  the   Hydriot  came  aft, 


54  KINGLAKE 

more  moody  'than  ever,  the  bearer  of  fierce  remonstrance 
against  the  continuing  of  the  struggle ;  he  received  a  reso- 
lute answer,  and  still  we  held  our  course.  Soon  there  came 
a  heavy  sea,  that  caught  the  bow  of  the  brigantine  as  she  lay 
jammed  in  betwixt  the  waves ;  she  bowed  her  head  low  under 
the  waters,  and  shuddered  through  all  her  timbers  —  then 
gallantly  stood  up  again  over  the  striving  sea,  with  bowsprit 
entire.  But  where  were  the  crew  .-*  It  was  a  crew  no  longer, 
but  rather  a  gathering  of  Greek  citizens; — the  shout  of  the 
seaman  was  changed  for  the  murmuring  of  the  people  —  the 
spirit  of  the  old  Demos  was  alive.  The  men  came  aft  in  a 
body,  and  loudly  asked  that  the  vessel  should  be  put  about, 
and  that  the  storm  be  no  longer  tempted.  Now,  then,  for 
speeches: — the  Captain,  his  eyes  flashing  fire,  his  frame  all 
quivering  with  emotion  —  wielding  his  every  limb,  like  an- 
other, and  a  louder  voice,  pours  forth  the  eloquent  torrent  of 
his  threats,  and  his  reasons,  his  commands,  and  his  prayers ; 
he  promises  —  he  vows  —  he  swears  that  there  is  safety  in 
holding  on  —  safety,  if  Greeks  will  be  brave  !  The  men  hear, 
and  are  moved,  but  the  gale  rouses  itself  once  more,  and 
again  the  raging  sea  comes  trampling  over  the  timbers  that 
are  the  life  of  all.  The  fierce  Hydriot  advances  one  step 
nearer  to  the  Captain,  and  the  angry  growl  of  the  people 
goes  floating  down  the  wind,  but  they  listen  —  they  waver 
once  more,  and  once  more  resolve,  then  waver  again,  thus 
doubtfully  hanging  between  the  terrors  of  the  storm,  and  the 
persuasion  of  glorious  speech,  as  though  it  were  the  Athe- 
nian that  talked,  and  Philip  of  Macedon  that  thundered  on 
the  weather  bow. 

Brave  thoughts  winged  on  Grecian  words  gained  their  nat- 
ural mastery  over  Terror ;  the  brigantine  held  on  her  course, 
and  reached  smooth  water  at  last.  I  landed  at  Limesol,  the 
westernmost  port  of  Cyprus,  leaving  the  vessel  to  sail  for 
Larnecca,  where  she  was  to  remain  for  some  days. 


CHAPTER   VII 

Cyprus 

THERE  was  a  Greek  at  Limesol,  who  hoisted  his  flag  as 
an  English  vice-consul,  and  he  insisted  upon  my  accept- 
ing his  hospitality ;  with  some  difficulty,  and  chiefly  by 
assuring  him  that  I  could  not  delay  my  departure  beyond  an 
early  hour  in  the  afternoon,  I  induced  him  to  allow  my  din- 
ing with  his  family,  instead  of  banqueting  all  alone  with  the 
representative  of  my  sovereign,  in  consular  state  and  dignity  ; 
the  lady  of  the  house,  it  seemed,  had  never  sat  at  table  with 
a  European ;  she  was  very  shy  about  the  matter,  and  tried 
hard  to  get  out  of  the  scrape,  but  the  husband,  I  fancy,  re- 
minded her,  that  she  was  theoretically  an  Englishwoman  by 
virtue  of  the  flag  which  waved  over  her  roof,  and  that  she 
was  bound  to  show  her  nationality  by  sitting  at  meat  with 
me ;  finding  herself  inexorably  condemned  to  bear  with  the 
dreaded  gaze  of  European  eyes,  she  tried  to  save  her  inno- 
cent children  from  the  hard  fate  which  awaited  herself,  but 
I  obtained  that  all  of  them  (and  I  think  there  were  four  or 
five)  should  sit  at  the  table.  You  will  meet  with  abundance 
of  stately  receptions,  and  of  generous  hospitality,  too,  in  the 
East,  but  rarely,  very  rarely  in  those  regions  (or  even,  so  far 
as  I  know,  in  any  part  of  southern  Europe),  does  one  gain 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  familiar  and  indoor  life  of  the 
people. 

This  family  party  of  the  good  consul's  (or  rather  of  mine, 
for  I  originated  the  idea,  though  he  furnished  the  materials) 
went  off  very  well ;  the  mamma  was  shy  at  first,  but  she 
veiled  the  awkwardness  which  she  felt  by  affecting  to  scold 
her  children,  who  had  all  of  them,  I  think,  immortal  names 
—  names,  too,  which  they  owed  to  tradition,  and  certainly 
not  to  any  classical  enthusiasm  of  their  parents  ;  every  instant 
I  was  delighted  by  some  such  phrases  as  these  —  "  Themis- 

55 


56  KINGLAKE 

tocles,  my  love,  don't  fight."  — "  Alcibiades,  can't  you  sit 
still  ?  "  —  "  Socrates,  put  down  the  cup."  —  "  Oh,  fie !  Aspasia, 
don't,  oh!  don't  be  naughty!"  It  is  true  that  the  names 
were  pronounced,  Socrahtie,  Aspahsie  —  that  is,  according  to 
accent,  and  not  according  to  quantity,  but  I  suppose  it  is 
scarcely  now  to  be  doubted  that  they  were  so  sounded  in 
ancient  times. 

To  me  it  seems,  that  of  all  the  lands  I  know  (you  will  see 
in  a  minute  how  I  connect  this  piece  of  prose  with  the  Isle 
of  Cyprus),  there  is  none  in  which  mere  wealth  —  mere  un- 
aided wealth,  is  held  half  so  cheaply  —  none  in  which  a  poor 
devil  of  a  millionaire  without  birth,  or  ability,  occupies  so 
humble  a  place  as  in  England.     My  Greek  host  and  I  were 
sitting  together,  I  think  upon  the  roof  of  the  house  (for  that 
is  the  lounging-place  in  Eastern  climes),  when  the  former 
assumed  a  serious  air,  and  intimated  a  wish  to  converse  upon 
the  subject  of  the  British  Constitution,  with  which  he  assured 
me  that  he  was  thoroughly  acquainted ;  he  presently,  how- 
ever,  informed  me  that  there   was   one   anomalous  circum- 
stance attendant  upon  the  practical  working  of  our  political 
system  which  he  had  never  been  able  to  hear  explained  in  a 
manner  satisfactory  to  himself.     From  the  fact  of  his  having 
found  a  difficulty  in  his  subject,  I  began  to  think  that  my 
host  might  really  know  rather  more  of  it  than  his  announce- 
ment of  a  thorough  knowledge  had  led  me  to  expect ;  I  felt 
interested  at  being  about  to  hear  from  the  lips  of  an  intelli- 
gent Greek,  quite  remote   from  the  influence  of   European 
opinions,  what  might  seem  to  him  the  most  astonishing  and 
incomprehensible  of   all  those  results  which  have  followed 
from  the  action  of  our  political  institutions.     The  anomaly 
—  the  only  anomaly  which  had  been  detected  by  the  vice- 
consular  wisdom,  consisted  in  the  fact  that  Rothschild  (the 
late  money-monger)  had  never  been  the  Prime  Minister  of 
England !     I  gravely  tried  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  mys- 
terious causes  which  had  kept  the  worthy  Israelite  out  of  the 
Cabinet,  but  I  think  I  could  see  that  my  explanation  was  not 
satisfactory.     Go  and  argue  with  the  flies  of  summer,  that 
there  is  a   Power  divine,   yet  greater  than  the  Sun  in  the 
heavens,  but  never  dare  hope  to  convince  the  people  of  the 
South  that  there  is  any  other  God  than  Gold. 


EOTHEN  57 

My  intended  journey  was  to  the  site  of  the  Paphian  tem- 
ple. I  take  no  antiquarian  interest  in  ruins,  and  care  little 
about  them,  unless  they  are  either  striking  in  themselves,  or 
else  serve  to  mark  some  spot  on  which  my  fancy  loves  to 
dwell.  I  knew  that  the  ruins  of  Paphos  were  scarcely,  if  at 
all,  discernible,  but  there  was  a  will,  and  a  longing  more  im- 
perious than  mere  curiosity,  that  drove  me  thither. 

For  this,  just  then,  was  my  pagan  soul's  desire  —  that  (not 
forfeiting  my  Christian's  inheritance  for  the  life  to  come)  it 
were  yet  given  me  to  live  through  this  world  —  to  live  a  fav- 
ored mortal  under  the  old  Olympian  dispensation  —  to  speak 
out  my  resolves  to  the  listening  Jove  and  hear  him  answer 
with  approving  thunder  —  to  be  blessed  with  divine  counsels 
from  the  lips  of  Pallas  Athenie  —  to  believe  —  aye,  only  to 
believe  —  to  believe  for  one  rapturous  moment  that  in  the 
gloomy  depths  of  the  grove,  by  the  mountain's  side,  there 
were  some  leafy  pathway  that  crisped  beneath  the  glowing 
sandal  of  Aphrodetie  —  Aphrodetie,  not  coldly  disdainful  of 
even  a  mortal's  love !  And  this  vain,  heathenish  longing  of 
mine  was  father  to  the  thought  of  visiting  the  scene  of  the 
ancient  worship. 

The  isle  is  beautiful ;  from  the  edge  of  the  rich,  flowery 
fields  on  which  I  trod,  to  the  midway  sides  of  the  snowy 
Olympus,  the  ground  could  only  here  and  there  show  an 
abrupt  crag,  or  a  high,  straggling  ridge,  that  up-shouldered 
itself  from  out  of  the  wilderness  of  myrtles,  and  of  the  thou- 
sand bright-leaved  shrubs  that  twined  their  arms  together  in 
lovesome  tangles.  The  air  that  came  to  my  lips  was  warm, 
and  fragrant  as  the  ambrosial  breath  of  the  goddess,  infecting 
me  —  not  (of  course)  with  the  faith  of  the  old  religion  of  the 
isle,  but  with  a  sense  and  apprehension  of  its  mystic  power 
—  a  power  that  was  still  to  be  obeyed  —  obeyed  by  me,  for 
why  otherwise  did  I  toil  on  with  sorry  horses  to  "  where,  for 
HER,  the  hundred  altars  glowed  with  Arabian  incense,  and 
breathed  with  the  fragrance  of  garlands  ever  fresh  .-'  "  ^ 

I  passed  a  sadly  disenchanting  night  in  the  cabin  of  a 
Greek  priest  —  not  a  priest  of  the  Goddess  but  of  the  Greek 

1     ...  ubi  templum  illi,  centumque  Sadaeo 
Thure  salent  aras,  sertisque  recentibus  halant. 

i^NEID  I.  415. 


58  KINGLAKE 

Church  —  there  was  but  one  humble  room,  or  rather  shed,  for 
man,  and  priest,  and  beast.  The  next  morning  I  reached 
Baffa  (Paphos),  which  is  not  far  distant  from  the  site  of  the 
temple;  there  was  a  Greek  husbandman  there  who  (not  for 
employment,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  protection  and  dignity 
which  it  afforded)  had  got  leave  from  the  man  at  Limesol  to 
hoist  his  flag  as  a  sort  of  Deputy-provisionary-sub-vice-pro- 
acting  Pro-consul  of  the  British  Sovereign ;  the  poor  fellow 
instantly  changed  his  Greek  head-gear  for  the  cap  of  consular 
dignity,  and  insisted  upon  accompanying  me  to  the  ruins ;  I 
would  not  have  stood  this,  if  I  could  have  felt  the  faintest 
gleam  of  my  yesterday's  pagan  piety,  but  I  had  ceased  to 
dream,  and  had  nothing  to  dread  from  any  new  disenchanters. 

The  ruins  (the  fragments  of  one  or  two  prostrate  pillars) 
stand  upon  a  promontory,  bare,  and  unmystified  by  the  gloom 
of  surrounding  groves ;  my  Greek  friend  in  his  consular  cap 
stood  by,  respectfully  waiting  to  see  what  turn  my  madness 
would  take,  now  that  I  had  come  at  last  into  the  presence  of 
the  old  stones.  If  you  have  no  taste  for  research,  and  can't 
affect  to  look  for  inscriptions,  there  is  some  awkwardness  in 
coming  to  the  end  of  a  merely  sentimental  pilgrimage,  when 
the  feeling  which  impelled  you  has  gone ;  you  have  nothing 
to  do  but  to  laugh  the  thing  off  as  well  as  you  can,  and  by 
the  by,  it  is  not  a  bad  plan  to  turn  the  conversation  (or  rather 
allow  the  natives  to  turn  it)  towards  the  subject  of  hidden 
treasures ;  this  is  a  topic  on  which  they  will  always  speak 
with  eagerness,  and  if  they  can  fancy  that  you,  too,  take  an 
interest  in  such  matters,  they  will  not  only  think  you  perfectly 
sane,  but  will  begin  to  give  you  credit  for  some  more  than 
human  powers  of  forcing  the  obscure  earth  to  show  you  its 
hoards  of  gold. 

When  we  returned  to  Baffa,  the  Pro-consul  seized  a  club, 
with  the  quietly  determined  air  of  a  brave  man  resolved  to  do 
some  deed  of  note ;  he  went  into  the  yard  adjoining  his  cot- 
tage, where  there  were  some  thin,  thoughtful,  canting  cocks, 
and  serious  low-church-looking  hens,  respectfully  listening, 
and  chickens  of  tender  years  so  well  brought  up  as  scarcely 
to  betray  in  their  conduct  the  careless  levity  of  youth.  The 
Pro-consul  stood  for  a  moment  quite  calm  —  collecting  his 
strength ;  then  suddenly  he  rushed  into  the  midst  of  the  con- 


EOTHEN  59 

gregation,  and  began  to  deal  death  and  destruction  on  all 
sides ;  he  spared  neither  sex  nor  age ;  the  dead  and  dying 
were  immediately  removed  from  the  field  of  slaughter,  and  in 
less  than  an  hour,  I  think,  they  were  brought  to  the  table, 
deeply  buried  in  mounds  of  snowy  rice. 

My  host  was  in  all  respects  a  fine,  generous  fellow ;  I 
could  not  bear  the  idea  of  impoverishing  him  by  my  visit,  and 
I  consulted  my  faithful  Mysseri,  who  not  only  assured  me 
that  I  might  safely  offer  money  to  the  Pro-consul,  but  recom- 
mended that  I  should  give  no  more  to  him  than  to  "  the 
others,"  meaning  any  other  peasant ;  I  felt,  however,  that 
there  was  something  about  the  man,  besides  the  flag  and  the 
cap,  which  made  me  shrink  from  offering  coin,  and  as  I 
mounted  my  horse  on  departing,  I  gave  him  the  only  thing 
fit  for  a  present  which  I  happened  to  have  with  me,  a  rather 
handsome  clasp-dagger,  which  I  had  brought  from  Vienna ; 
the  poor  fellow  was  ineffably  grateful,  and  I  had  some  diffi- 
culty in  tearing  myself  from  out  of  the  reach  of  his  thanks ; 
at  last  I  gave  him  what  I  supposed  to  be  the  last  farewell,  and 
rode  on,  but  I  had  not  gained  more  than  about  a  hundred 
yards,  when  my  host  came  bounding  and  shouting  after  me, 
with  a  goat's-milk  cheese  in  his  hand,  which  he  implored  me 
to  accept.  In  old  times  the  shepherd  of  Theocritus,  or  (to 
speak  less  dishonestly)  the  shepherd  of  the  "  Poetae  Grseci," 
sang  his  best  song ;  I,  in  this  latter  age,  presented  my  best 
dagger,  and  both  of  us  received  the  same  rustic  reward. 

It  had  been  known  that  I  should  return  to  Limesol,  and 
when  I  arrived  there  I  found  that  a  noble  old  Greek  had  been 
hospitably  plotting  to  have  me  for  his  guest ;  I  willingly  ac- 
cepted his  offer.  The  day  of  my  arrival  happened  to  be  the 
birthday  of  my  host,  and  in  consequence  of  this  there  was  a 
constant  influx  of  visitors  who  came  to  offer  their  congratula- 
tions ;  a  few  of  these  were  men,  but  most  of  them  were  young, 
graceful  girls  ;  almost  all  of  them  went  through  the  ceremony 
with  the  utmost  precision  and  formality  ;  each  in  succession 
spoke  her  blessing,  in  the  tone  of  a  person  repeating  a  set 
formula  —  then  deferentially  accepted  the  invitation  to  sit  — 
partook  of  the  proffered  sweetmeats,  and  the  cold,  glittering 
water  —  remained  for  a  few  minutes  either  in  silence,  or  en- 
gaged in   very  thin   conversation  —  then   arose,  delivered  a 


6o  KINGLAKE 

second  benediction  followed  by  an  elaborate  farewell,  and 
departed. 

The  bcAvitching  power  attributed  at  this  day  to  the  women 
of  Cyprus  is  curious  in  connection  with  the  worship  of  the 
sweet  goddess  who  called  their  isle  her  own  ;  the  Cypriote  is 
not,  I  think,  nearly  so  beautiful  in  the  face  as  the  Ionian 
queens  of  Izmir,  but  she  is  tall,  and  slightly  formed  —  there 
is  a  high-souled  meaning  and  expression  —  a  seeming  con- 
sciousness of  gentle  empire  that  speaks  in  the  wavy  lines  of 
the  shoulder,  and  winds  itself  like  Cytherea's  own  cestus 
around  the  slender  waist  —  then  the  richly  abounding  hair 
(not  enviously  gathered  together  under  the  head-dress)  de- 
scends the  neck  and  passes  the  waist  in  sumptuous  braids ; 
of  all  other  women  with  Grecian  blood  in  their  veins,  the  cos- 
tume is  graciously  beautiful,  but  these,  the  maidens  of  Lime- 
sol —  their  robes  are  more  gently,  more  sweetly  imagined,  and 
fall  like  Julia's  Cashmere  in  soft,  luxurious  folds.  The  com- 
mon voice  of  the  Levant  allows  that  in  the  face  the  women  of 
Cyprus  are  less  beautiful  than  their  brilliant  sisters  of  Smyrna, 
and  yet,  says  the  Greek,  he  may  trust  himself  to  one  and  all 
of  the  bright  cities  of  the  vEgean,  and  may  yet  weigh  anchor 
with  a  heart  entire,  but  that  so  surely  as  he  ventures  upon  the 
enchanted  Isle  of  Cyprus,  so  surely  will  he  know  the  rapture, 
or  the  bitterness,  of  Love.  The  charm,  they  say,  owes  its 
power  to  that  which  the  people  call  the  astonishing  "  politics  " 
(TToXtTiK^)  of  the  women,  meaning,  I  fancy,  their  tact,  and 
their  witching  ways ;  the  word,  however,  plainly  fails  to  ex- 
press one  half  of  that  which  the  speakers  would  say  ;  I  have 
smiled  to  hear  the  Greek,  with  all  his  plenteousness  of  fancy, 
and  all  the  wealth  of  his  generous  language,  yet  vainly  strug- 
gling to  describe  the  ineffable  spell  which  the  Parisians  dispose 
of  in  their  own  smart  way,  by  a  summary  "  Je  ne  sais  quoi." 

I  went  to  Larnecca,  the  chief  city  of  the  isle,  and  over  the 
water  at  last  to  Beyrout. 

Note.  —  The  writer  takes  leave  to  suggest  that  none  should  attempt  to 
read  the  following  account  of  the  late  Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  except  those 
who  may  already  chance  to  feel  an  interest  in  the  personage  to  whom  it 
relates.  The  chapter  (which  has  been  written  and  printed  for  the  reasons 
mentioned  in  the  preface)  is  chiefly  filled  with  the  detailed  conversation,  or 
rather  discourse,  of  a  highly  eccentric  gentlewoman. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

Lady  Hester  Stanhope 

BEYROUT  on  its  land  side  is  hemmed  in  by  the  Druses, 
who  occupy  all  the  neighboring  highlands. 
Often  enough  I  saw  the  ghostly  images  of  the 
women  with  their  exalted  horns  stalking  through  the  streets, 
and  I  saw  too,  in  traveling,  the  affrighted  groups  of  the 
mountaineers  as  they  fled  before  me,  under  the  fear  that  my 
party  might  be  a  company  of  Income-tax  commissioners,  or 
a  press-gang  enforcing  the  conscription  for  Mehemet  Ali,  but 
nearly  all  my  knowledge  of  the  people,  except  in  regard  to 
their  mere  costume,  and  outward  appearance,  is  drawn  from 
books,  and  despatches,  to  which  I  have  the  honor  to  refer 
you. 

I  received  hospitable  welcome  at  Beyrout,  from  the  Euro- 
peans, as  well  as  from  the  Syrian  Christians,  and  I  soon  dis- 
covered that  their  standing  topic  of  interest  was  the  Lady 
Hester  Stanhope,  who  lived  in  an  old  convent  on  the  Lebanon 
range,  at  the  distance  of  about  a  day's  journey  from  the  town. 
The  lady's  habit  of  refusing  to  see  Europeans  added  the  charm 
of  mystery  to  a  character  which,  even  without  that  aid,  was 
sufficiently  distinguished  to  command  attention. 

Many  years  of  Lady  Hester's  early  womanhood  had  been 
passed  with  Lady  Chatham  at  Burton  Pynsent,  and  during 
that  inglorious  period  of  the  heroine's  life,  her  commanding 
character,  and  (as  they  would  have  called  it,  in  the  language 
of  those  days)  her  "condescending  kindness,"  towards  my 
mother's  family  had  increased  in  them  those  strong  feelings 
of  respect  and  attachment  which  her  rank  and  station  alone 
would  have  easily  won  from  people  of  the  middle  class.  You 
may  suppose  how  deeply  the  quiet  women  in  Somersetshire 
must  have  been  interested,  when  they  slowly  learned  by 
vague  and  uncertain  tidings  that  the  intrepid  girl  who  had 

6i 


62  KINGLAKE 

been  used  to  break  their  vicious  horses  for  them,  was  reigning 
in  sovereignty  over  the  wandering  tribes  of  western  Asia ! 
I  know  that  her  name  was  made  ahnost  as  familiar  to  me 
in  my  childhood  as  the  name  of  Robinson  Crusoe ;  both 
were  associated  with  the  spirit  of  adventure,  but  whilst  the 
imagined  life  of  the  castaway  mariner  never  failed  to  seem 
glaringly  real,  the  true  story  of  the  Englishwoman  ruling  over 
Arabs  always  sounded  to  me  like  fable.  I  never  had  heard, 
nor  indeed,  I  believe,  had  the  rest  of  the  world  ever  heard 
anything  like  a  certain  account  of  the  heroine's  adventures ; 
all  I  knew  was,  that  in  one  of  the  drawers  which  were  the 
delight  of  my  childhood,  along  with  attar  of  roses,  and  fra- 
grant wonders  from  Hindostan,  there  were  letters  carefully 
treasured,  and  trifling  presents  which  I  was  taught  to  think 
valuable  because  they  had  come  from  the  Queen  of  the 
Desert,  who  dwelt  in  tents,  and  reigned  over  wandering 
Arabs. 

The  subject,  however,  died  away,  and  from  the  ending  oi 
my  childhood  up  to  the  period  of  my  arrival  in  the  Levant,  I 
had  seldom  even  heard  a  mentioning  of  the  Lady  Hester 
Stanhope,  but  now  wherever  I  went,  I  was  met  with  the  name 
so  familiar  in  sound,  and  yet  so  full  of  mystery  from  the 
vague,  fairy-tale  sort  of  idea  which  it  brought  to  my  mind ;  I 
heard  it,  too,  connected  with  fresh  wonders,  for  it  was  said 
that  the  woman  was  now  acknowledged  as  an  inspired  being 
by  the  people  of  the  Mountains,  and  it  was  even  hinted  v/ith 
horror  that  she  claimed  to  be  more  than  a  prophet. 

I  felt  at  once  that  my  mother  would  be  sadly  sorry  to  hear 
that  I  had  been  within  a  day's  ride  of  her  early  friend  with' 
out  offering  to  see  her,  and  I  therefore  despatched  a  letter  to 
the  Recluse,  mentioning  the  maiden  name  of  my  mother 
(whose  marriage  was  subsequent  to  Lady  Hester's  depar- 
ture), and  saying  that  if  there  existed  on  the  part  of  her  Lady- 
ship any  wish  to  hear  of  her  old  Somersetshire  acquaintance, 
I  should  make  a  point  of  visiting  her.  My  letter  was  sent  by 
a  foot  messenger  who  was  to  take  an  unlimited  time  for  his 
journey,  so  that  it  was  not,  I  think,  until  either  the  third  or 
the  fourth  day  that  the  answer  arrived.  A  couple  of  horse- 
men covered  with  mud  suddenly  dashed  into  the  little  court 
of  the  "  Locanda,"  in  which  I  was  staying,  bearing  themselves 


EOTHEN  63 

as  ostentatiously  as  though  they  were  carrying  a  cartel  from 
the  Devil  to  the  Angel  Michael;  one  of  these  (the  other 
being  his  attendant)  was  an  Italian  by  birth  (though  now 
completely  Orientalized),  who  lived  in  my  Lady's  establish- 
ment as  a  Doctor  nominally,  but  practically  as  an  upper  ser- 
vant ;  he  presented  me  a  very  kind  and  appropriate  letter  of 
invitation. 

It  happened  that  I  was  rather  unwell  at  this  time,  so  that 
I  named  a  more  distant  day  for  my  visit  than  I  should  other- 
wise have  done,  and  after  all  I  did  not  start  at  the  time 
fixed ;  whilst  still  remaining  at  Beyrout  I  received  this  let- 
ter, which  certainly  betrays  no  symptom  of  the  pretensions 
to  Divine  power,  which  were  popularly  attributed  to  the 
writer :  — 

"  Sir,  —  I  hope  I  shall  be  disappointed  in  seeing  you  on 
Wednesday,  for  the  late  rains  have  rendered  the  River 
Damoor,  if  not  dangerous,  at  least  very  unpleasant  to  pass 
for  a  person  who  has  been  lately  indisposed,  for  if  the  animal 
swims,  you  would  be  immerged  in  the  waters.  The  weather 
will  probably  change  after  the  21st  of  the  moon,  and  after  a 
couple  of  days  the  roads  and  the  river  will  be  passable,  there- 
fore I  shall  expect  you  either  Saturday  or  Monday. 

"  It  will  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  have  an  opportu- 
nity of  inquiring  after  your  mother,  who  was  a  sweet,  lovely 
girl  when  I  knew  her. 

"  Believe  me,  Sir, 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  Hester  Lucy  Stanhope." 

Early  one  morning  I  started  from  Beyrout.  There  are  no 
regularly  established  relays  of  horses  in  Syria,  at  least  not  in 
the  line  which  I  took,  and  you  therefore  hire  your  cattle  for 
the  whole  journey,  or,  at  all  events,  for  your  journey  to  some 
large  town.  Under  these  circumstances  you  have  no  occasion 
for  a  Tatar  (whose  principal  utility  consists  in  his  power  to 
compel  the  supply  of  horses).  In  other  respects,  the  mode 
of  traveling  through  Syria  differs  very  little  from  that  which 
I  have  described  as  prevailing  in  Turkey.  I  hired  my  horses 
and  mules  (for  I  had  some  of  both)  for  the  whole  of  the  jour- 


64  KINGLAKE 

ney  from  Beyrout  to  Jerusalem ;  the  owner  of  the  beasts 
(who  had  a  couple  of  fellows  under  him)  was  the  most  digni- 
fied member  of  my  party ;  he  was,  indeed,  a  magnificent  old 
man,  and  was  called  Shereef,  or  "  holy,"  —  a  title  of  honor, 
which,  with  the  privilege  of  bearing  the  green  turban,  he  well 
deserved,  not  only  from  the  blood  of  the  Prophet  which 
glowed  in  his  veins,  but  from  the  well-known  sanctity  of  his 
life,  and  the  length  of  his  blessed  beard. 

Mysseri,  of  course,  still  traveled  with  me,  but  the  Arabic 
was  not  one  of  the  seven  languages  which  he  spoke  so 
perfectly,  and  I  was,  therefore,  obliged  to  hire  another  in- 
terpreter. I  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  a  proper  man  for 
the  purpose  —  one  Demetrius,  or,  as  he  was  always  called, 
Dthemetri,  a  native  of  Zante,  who  had  been  tossed  about  by 
fortune  in  all  directions.  He  spoke  the  Arabic  very  well, 
and  communicated  with  me  in  ItaHan.  The  man  was  a  very 
zealous  member  of  the  Greek  Church.  He  had  been  a  tailor. 
He  was  as  ugly  as  the  devil,  having  a  thoroughly  Tatar  coun- 
tenance, which  expressed  the  agony  of  his  body  or  mind,  as 
the  case  might  be,  in  the  most  ludicrous  manner  imagina- 
ble ;  he  embellished  the  natural  caricature  of  his  person  by 
suspending  about  his  neck,  and  shoulders,  and  waist,  quan- 
tities of  little  bundles  and  parcels,  which  he  thought  too 
valuable  to  be  entrusted  to  the  jerking  of  pack-saddles.  The 
mule  which  fell  to  his  lot  on  this  journey,  every  now  and 
then,  forgetting  that  his  rider  was  a  saint,  and  remembering 
that  he  was  a  tailor,  took  a  quiet  roll  upon  the  ground,  and 
stretched  his  limbs  calmly  and  lazily,  as  if  he  were  preparing 
to  hear  a  long  sermon.  Dthemetri  never  got  seriously  hurt, 
but  the  subversion  and  dislocation  of  his  bundles  made  him 
for  the  moment  a  sad  spectacle  of  ruin,  and  when  he  regained 
his  legs  his  wrath  with  the  mule  became  very  amusing.  He 
always  addressed  the  beast  in  language  which  implied  that 
he,  as  a  Christian  and  saint,  had  been  personally  insulted  and 
oppressed  by  a  Mohammedan  mule.  Dthemetri,  however,  on 
the  whole,  proved  to  be  a  most  able  and  capital  servant ;  I  sus- 
pected him  of  now  and  then  leading  me  out  of  my  way,  in 
order  that  he  might  have  an  opportunity  of  visiting  the 
shrine  of  a  saint,  and  on  one  occasion,  as  you  will  see  by  and 
by,  he  was  induced,  by  religious  motives,  to  commit  a  gross 


EOTHEN  65 

breach  of  duty ;  but  putting  these  pious  faults  out  of  the 
question  (and  they  were  faults  of  the  right  side),  he  was 
always  faithful  and  true  to  me. 

I  left  Saide  (the  Sidon  of  ancient  times)  on  my  right,  and 
about  an  hour,  I  think,  before  sunset,  began  to  ascend  one  of 
the  many  low  hills  of  Lebanon.  On  the  summit  before  me 
was  a  broad,  gray  mass  of  irregular  building,  which,  from  its 
position,  as  well  as  from  the  gloomy  blankness  of  its  walls, 
gave  the  idea  of  a  neglected  fortress ;  it  had,  in  fact,  been  a 
convent  of  great  size,  and,  like  most  of  the  religious  houses 
in  this  part  of  the  world,  had  been  made  strong  enough  for 
opposing  an  inert  resistance  to  any  mere  casual  band  of 
assailants  who  might  be  unprovided  with  regular  means  of 
attack ;  this  was  the  dwelling-place  of  the  Chatham's  fiery 
granddaughter. 

The  aspect  of  the  first  court  which  I  entered  was  such  as  to 
keep  one  in  the  idea  of  having  to  do  with  a  fortress,  rather  than 
a  mere  peaceable  dwelling-place.  A  number  of  fierce-looking 
and  ill-clad  Albanian  soldiers  were  hanging  about  the  place, 
and  striving  to  bear  the  curse  of  tranquillity  as  well  as  they 
could ;  two  or  three  of  them,  I  think,  were  smoking  their 
tchibouques,  but  the  rest  of  them  were  lying  torpidly  upon 
the  flat  stones,  like  the  bodies  of  departed  brigands.  I  rode 
on  to  an  inner  part  of  the  building,  and  at  last,  quitting  my 
horses,  was  conducted  through  a  doorway  which  led  me  at 
once  from  an  open  court  into  an  apartment  on  the  ground 
floor.  As  I  entered,  an  Oriental  figure  in  male  costume 
approached  me  from  the  farther  end  of  the  room  with  many 
and  profound  bows,  but  the  growing  shades  of  evening,  as 
well  as  my  near-sightedness,  prevented  me  from  distinguish- 
ing the  features  of  the  personage  who  was  receiving  me  with 
this  solemn  welcome.  I  had  always,  however,  understood 
that  Lady  Hester  Stanhope  wore  the  male  attire,  and  I  began 
to  utter  in  English  the  common  civilities  which  seemed  to  be 
proper  on  the  commencement  of  a  visit  by  an  uninspired 
mortal  to  a  renowned  Prophetess,  but  the  figure  which  I 
addressed  only  bowed  so  much  the  more,  prostrating  itself 
almost  to  the  ground,  but  speaking  to  me  never  a  word  ; 
I  feebly  strove  not  to  be  outdone  in  gestures  of  respect,  but 
presently  my  bowing  opponent  saw  the  error  under  which  I 


66  KINGLAKE 

was  acting,  and  suddenly  convinced  me  that  at  all  events  I  was 
not  yet  in  the  presence  of  a  superhuman  being,  by  declar- 
ing that  he  was  not  "  Miladi,"  but  was,  in  fact,  nothing  more 
or  less  godlike  than  the  poor  Doctor,  who  had  brought  his 
mistress's  letters  to  Beyrout. 

Her  Ladyship,  in  the  right  spirit  of  hospitality,  now  sent, 
and  commanded  me  to  repose  for  a  while  after  the  fatigues 
of  my  journey,  and  to  dine. 

The  cuisine  was  of  the  Oriental  kind,  which  is  highly 
artificial,  and  I  thought  it  very  good.  I  rejoiced,  too,  in  the 
wine  of  the  Lebanon. 

Soon  after  the  ending  of  the  dinner,  the  Doctor  arrived  with 
Miladi's  compliments,  and  an  intimation  that  she  would  be 
happy  to  receive  me  if  I  were  so  disposed.  It  had  now  grown 
dark,  and  the  rain  was  falling  heavily,  so  that  I  got  rather  wet 
in  following  my  guide  through  the  open  courts  which  I  had 
to  pass  in  order  to  reach  the  presence  chamber.  At  last  I 
was  ushered  into  a  small  apartment,  which  was  protected  from 
the  drafts  of  air  through  the  doorway  by  a  folding  screen ; 
passing  this,  I  came  alongside  of  a  common  European  sofa, 
where  sat  the  Lady  Prophetess.  She  rose  from  her  seat  very 
formally  —  spoke  to  me  a  few  words  of  welcome,  pointed  to 
a  chair  which  was  placed  exactly  opposite  to  her  sofa,  at  a 
couple  of  yards'  distance,  and  remained  standing  up  to  the 
full  of  her  majestic  height,  perfectly  still  and  motionless,  until 
I  had  taken  my  appointed  place ;  she  then  resumed  her  seat, 
not  packing  herself  up  according  to  the  mode  of  the  Orientals, 
but  allowing  her  feet  to  rest  on  the  floor,  or  the  footstool ;  at 
the  moment  of  seating  herself,  she  covered  her  lap  with  a 
mass  of  loose,  white  drapery,  which  she  held  in  her  hand. 
It  occurred  to  me  at  the  time,  that  she  did  this,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  awkwardness  of  sitting  in  manifest  trousers  under 
the  eye  of  a  European,  but  I  can  hardly  fancy  now,  that 
with  her  wilful  nature,  she  would  have  brooked  such  a  com- 
promise as  this. 

The  woman  before  me  had  exactly  the  person  of  a  Prophet- 
ess—  not,  indeed,  of  the  divine  Sibyl  imagined  by  Domeni- 
chino,  so  sweetly  distracted  betwixt  Love  and  Mystery,  but 
of  a  good,  businesslike,  practical  Prophetess,  long  used  to  the 
exercise  of  her  sacred  calling.     I  have  been  told  by  those 


EOTHEN  67 

who  knew  Lady  Hester  Stanhope  in  her  youth,  that  any 
notion  of  a  resemblance  betwixt  her  and  the  great  Chatham 
must  have  been  fanciful,  but  at  the  time  of  my  seeing  her, 
the  large  commanding  features  of  the  gaunt  woman,  then 
sixty  years  old  or  more,  certainly  reminded  me  of  the  States- 
man that  lay  dying  ^  in  the  House  of  Lords,  according  to 
Copley's  picture ;  her  face  was  of  the  most  astonishing  white- 
ness ;  2  she  wore  a  very  large  turban,  which  seemed  to  be  of 
pale  cashmere  shawls,  so  disposed  as  to  conceal  the  hair ; 
her  dress,  from  the  chin  down  to  the  point  at  which  it  was 
concealed  by  the  drapery  which  she  held  over  her  lap,  was 
a  mass  of  white  linen  loosely  folding  —  an  ecclesiastical  sort 
of  affair  —  more  like  a  surplice  than  any  of  those  blessed 
creations  which  our  souls  love  under  the  names  of  "  dress," 
and  "frock,"  and  "bodice,"  and  "collar,"  and  "habit-shirt," 
and  sweet  "chemisette." 

Such  was  the  outward  seeming  of  the  personage  that  sat 
before  me,  and  indeed  she  was  almost  bound  by  the  fame  of 
her  actual  achievements,  as  well  as  by  her  sublime  preten- 
sions, to  look  a  little  differently  from  the  rest  of  womankind. 
There  had  been  something  of  grandeur  in  her  career :  after 
the  death  of  Lady  Chatham,  which  happened  in  1803,  she 
lived  under  the  roof  of  her  uncle,  the  second  Pitt,  and  when 
he  resumed  the  Government  in  1804,  she  became  the  dis- 
penser of  much  patronage,  and  sole  Secretary  of  State,  for 
the  department  of  Treasury  banquets.  Not  having  seen  the 
Lady  until  late  in  her  life,  when  she  was  fired  with  spiritual 
ambition,  I  can  hardly  fancy  that  she  could  have  performed 
her  political  duties  in  the  saloons  of  the  Minister  with  much 
of  feminine  sweetness  and  patience ;  I  am  told,  however,  that 
she  managed  matters  very  well  indeed  ;  perhaps  it  was  better 
for  the  lofty-minded  leader  of  the  House  to  have  his  recep- 
tion rooms  guarded  by  this  stately  creature  than  by  a  merely 
clever  and  managing  woman ;  it  was  fitting  that  the  whole- 
some awe  with  which  he  filled  the  minds  of  the  country  gen- 
tlemen should  be  aggravated  by  the  presence  of  his  majestic 
niece.  But  the  end  was  approaching ;  the  sun  of  Aus- 
terlitz  showed  the  Czar  madly  sliding  his  splendid  army  like 

^  Historically  "fainting"  ;  the  death  did  not  occur  till  long  afterwards. 
2  I  am  told  that  in  youth  she  was  exceedingly  sallow. 


68  KINGLAKE 

a  weaver's  shuttle,  from  his  right  hand  to  his  left,  under  the 
very  eyes,  the  deep,  gray,  watchful  eyes,  of  Napoleon ;  before 
night  came,  the  coalition  was  a  vain  thing  —  meat  for  History, 
and  the  heart  of  its  great  author  was  crushed  with  grief,  when 
the  terrible  tidings  came  to  his  ears.  In  the  bitterness  of  his 
despair,  he  cried  out  to  his  niece  and  bade  her  "  Roll  up  the 
Map  of  Europe  "  ;  there  was  a  little  more  of  suffering,  and 
at  last,  with  his  swollen  tongue  still  muttering  something  for 
England,  he  died  by  the  noblest  of  all  sorrows. 

Lady  Hester,  meeting  the  calamity  in  her  own  fierce  way, 
seems  to  have  scorned  the  poor  island  that  had  not  enough  of 
God's  grace  to  keep  the  "heaven-sent"  minister  alive.  I  can 
hardly  tell  why  it  should  be,  but  there  is  a  longing  for  the  East, 
very  commonly  felt  by  proud-hearted  people,  when  goaded  by 
sorrow.  Lady  Hester  Stanhope  obeyed  this  impulse :  for  some 
time,  I  believe,  she  was  at  Constantinople,  where  her  magnifi- 
cence, and  near  alliance  to  the  late  minister,  gained  her  great 
influence.  Afterwards  she  passed  into  Syria.  The  people  of 
that  country,  excited  by  the  achievements  of  Sir  Sydney  Smith, 
had  begun  to  imagine  the  possibility  of  their  land  being  occu- 
pied by  the  English,  and  many  of  them  looked  upon  Lady 
Hester  as  a  Princess  who  came  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  ex- 
pected conquest.  I  don't  know  it  from  her  own  lips,  or  indeed 
from  any  certain  authority,  but  I  have  been  told  that  she  began 
her  connection  with  the  Bedouins  by  making  a  large  present 
of  money  (;^500,  it  was  said,  immense  in  piasters)  to  the  Sheik 
whose  authority  was  recognized  in  that  part  of  the  desert 
which  lies  between  Damascus  and  Palmyra.  The  prestige 
created  by  the  rumors  of  her  high  and  undefined  rank,  as  well 
as  of  her  wealth  and  corresponding  magnificence,  was  well 
sustained  by  her  imperious  character  and  her  dauntless 
bravery.  Her  influence  increased.  I  never  heard  anything 
satisfactory  as  to  the  real  extent  or  duration  of  her  sway,  but 
it  seemed  that,  for  a  time  at  least,  she  certainly  exercised 
something  like  sovereignty  amongst  the  wandering  tribes. 
And  now  that  her  earthly  kingdom  had  passed  away,  she 
strove  for  spiritual  power,  and  impiously  dared,  as  it  was 
said,  to  boast  some  mystic  union  with  the  very  God  of  very 
God! 

A  couple  of  black  slave  girls  came  at  a  signal,  and  supplied 


EOTHEN  69 

their  mistress,  as  well  as  myself,  with  lighted  tchibouques  and 
coffee. 

The  custom  of  the  East  sanctions  and  almost  commands 
some  moments  of  silence  whilst  you  are  inhaling  the  first  few 
breaths  of  the  fragrant  pipe ;  the  pause  was  broken,  I  think, 
by  my  Lady,  who  addressed  to  me  some  inquiries  respecting 
my  mother,  and  particularly  as  to  her  marriage ;  but  before  I 
had  communicated  any  great  amount  of  family  facts,  the  spirit 
of  the  Prophetess  kindled  within  her,  and  presently  (though 
with  all  the  skill  of  a  woman  of  the  world)  she  shuffled  away 
the  subject  of  poor  dear  Somersetshire,  and  bounded  onward 
into  loftier  spheres  of  thought. 

My  old  acquaintance  with  some  of  "the  twelve  "  enabled  me 
to  bear  my  part  (of  course  a  very  humble  one)  in  a  conversa- 
tion relative  to  occult  science.  Milnes  once  spread  a  report, 
that  every  gang  of  gipsies  was  found  upon  inquiry  to  have 
come  last  from  a  place  to  the  westward,  and  to  be  about  to 
make  the  next  move  in  an  eastern  direction ;  either  therefore 
they  were  to  be  all  gathered  together  towards  the  rising  of  the 
sun,  by  the  mysterious  finger  of  Providence,  or  else  they  were 
to  revolve  round  the  globe  for  ever,  and  ever,  and  ever ;  both 
of  these  suppositions  were  highly  gratifying,  because  they 
were  both  marvelous,  and  though  the  story  on  which  they 
were  founded  plainly  sprang  from  the  inventive  brain  of  a 
poet,  no  one  had  ever  been  so  odiously  statistical  as  to  attempt 
a  contradiction  of  it.  I  now  mentioned  the  story  as  a  report 
to  Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  and  asked  her  if  it  were  true ;  I 
could  not  have  touched  upon  any  imaginable  subject  more 
deeply  interesting  to  my  hearer  —  more  closely  akin  to  her 
habitual  train  of  thinking ;  she  immediately  threw  off  all  the 
restraint  belonging  to  an  interview  with  a  stranger ;  and  when 
she  had  received  a  few  more  similar  proofs  of  my  aptness  for 
the  marvelous,  she  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  she  would  adopt 
me  as  her  "  eleve  "  in  occult  science. 

For  hours  and  hours  this  wondrous  white  woman  poured 
forth  her  speech,  for  the  most  part  concerning  sacred  and  pro- 
fane mysteries ;  but  every  now  and  then  she  would  stay  her 
lofty  flight,  and  swoop  down  upon  the  world  again  ;  whenever 
this  happened,  I  was  interested  in  her  conversation. 

She  adverted  more  than  once  to  the  period  of  her  lost  sway 


70  KINGLAKE 

amongst  the  Arabs,  and  mentioned  some  of  the  circumstances 
which  aided  her  in  obtaining  influence  with  the  wandering 
tribes.  The  Bedouin,  so  often  engaged  in  irregular  warfare, 
strains  his  eyes  to  the  horizon  in  search  of  a  coming  enemy- 
just  as  habitually  as  the  sailor  keeps  his  "bright  lookout"  for 
a  strange  sail.  In  the  absence  of  telescopes,  a  far-reaching 
sight  is  highly  valued,  and  Lady  Hester  possessed  this  quality 
to  an  extraordinary  degree.  She  told  me  that  on  one  occasion, 
when  there  was  good  reason  to  expect  a  hostile  attack,  great 
excitement  was  felt  in  the  camp  by  the  report  of  a  far-seeing 
Arab,  who  declared  that  he  could  just  distinguish  some  moving 
objects  upon  the  very  furthest  point  within  the  reach  of  his 
eyes ;  Lady  Hester  was  consulted,  and  she  instantly  assured 
her  comrades  in  arms  that  there  were  indeed  a  number  of 
horses  within  sight,  but  that  they  were  without  riders ;  the 
assertion  proved  to  be  correct,  and  from  that  time  forth  her 
superiority  over  all  others  in  respect  of  far  sight  remained 
undisputed. 

Lady  Hester  related  to  me  this  other  anecdote  of  her  Arab 
life ;  it  was  when  the  heroic  qualities  of  the  Englishwoman 
were  just  beginning  to  be  felt  amongst  the  people  of  the  desert, 
that  she  was  marching  one  day  along  with  the  forces  of  the 
tribe  to  which  she  had  allied  herself.  She  perceived  that 
preparations  for  an  engagement  were  going  on,  and  upon  her 
making  inquiry  as  to  the  cause,  the  Sheik  at  first  affected 
mystery  and  concealment,  but  at  last  confessed  that  war  had 
been  declared  against  his  tribe  on  account  of  its  alliance  with 
the  English  Princess,  and  that  they  were  now  unfortunately 
about  to  be  attacked  by  a  very  superior  force ;  he  made  it  ap- 
pear that  Lady  Hester  was  the  sole  cause  of  hostility  betwixt 
his  tribe  and  the  impending  enemy,  and  that  his  sacred  duty 
of  protecting  the  Englishwoman  whom  he  had  admitted  as  his 
guest  was  the  only  obstacle  which  prevented  an  amicable 
arrangement  of  the  dispute.  The  Sheik  hinted  that  his  tribe 
was  likely  to  sustain  an  almost  overwhelming  blow,  but  at  the 
same  time  declared  that  no  fear  of  the  consequences,  however 
terrible  to  him  and  his  whole  people,  should  induce  him  to 
dream  of  abandoning  his  illustrious  guest.  The  heroine 
instantly  took  her  part ;  it  was  not  for  her  to  be  a  source  of 
danger  to  her  friends,  but  rather  to  her  enemies,  so  she  re- 


EOTHEN  71 

solved  to  turn  away  from  the  people,  and  trust  for  help  to 
none,  save  only  her  haughty  self.  The  Sheiks  affected  to  dis- 
suade her  from  so  rash  a  course,  and  fairly  told  her  that 
although  they  (having  been  freed  from  her  presence)  would 
be  able  to  make  good  terms  for  themselves,  yet  that  there  were 
no  means  of  allaying  the  hostility  felt  towards  her,  and  that 
the  whole  face  of  the  desert  would  be  swept  by  the  horsemen 
of  her  enemies  so  carefully  as  to  make  her  escape  into  other 
districts  almost  impossible.  The  brave  woman  was  not  to  be 
moved  by  terrors  of  this  kind,  and  bidding  farewell  to  the  tribe 
which  had  honored  and  protected  her,  she  turned  her  horse's 
head,  and  rode  straight  away  from  them,  without  friend  or 
follower.  Hours  had  elapsed,  and  for  some  time  she  had  been 
alone  in  the  center  of  the  round  horizon,  when  her  quick  eye 
perceived  some  horsemen  in  the  distance.  The  party  came 
nearer  and  nearer ;  soon  it  was  plain  that  they  were  making 
towards  her,  and  presently  some  hundreds  of  Bedouins,  fully 
armed,  galloped  up  to  her,  ferociously  shouting,  and  apparently 
intending  to  take  her  life  at  the  instant  with  their  pointed  spears. 
Her  face  at  the  time  was  covered  with  the  yashmak  accord- 
ing to  Eastern  usage,  but  at  the  moment  when  the  foremost  of 
the  horsemen  had  all  but  reached  her  with  their  spears,  she 
stood  up  in  her  stirrups  —  withdrew  the  yashmak  that  veiled 
the  terrors  of  her  countenance  —  waved  her  arm  slowly  and 
disdainfully,  and  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Avaunt !  "  ^ 
The  horsemen  recoiled  from  her  glance,  but  not  in  terror. 
The  threatening  yells  of  the  assailants  were  suddenly  changed 
for  loud  shouts  of  joy  and  admiration,  at  the  bravery  of  the 
stately  Englishwoman,  and  festive  gun-shots  were  fired  on  all 
sides  around  her  honored  head.  The  truth  was,  that  the  party 
belonged  to  the  tribe  with  which  she  had  allied  herself,  and 
that  the  threatened  attack,  as  well  as  the  pretended  apprehen- 
sion of  an  engagement,  had  been  contrived  for  the  mere  pur- 
pose of  testing  her  courage.  The  day  ended  in  a  great  feast 
prepared  to  do  honor  to  the  heroine,  and  from  that  time  her 
power  over  the  minds  of  the  people  grew  rapidly.  Lady 
Hester  related  this  story  with  great  spirit,  and  I  recollect  that 

1  She  spoke  it,  I  dare  say,  in  English ;  the  words  would  not  be  the  less 
effective  for  being  spoken  in  an  unknown  tongue.  Lady  Hester,  I  believe, 
never  learnt  to  speak  the  Arabic  with  a  perfect  accent. 


72  KINGLAKE 

she  put  up  her  yashmak  for  a  moment,  in  order  to  give  a 
better  idea  of  the  effect  which  she  produced  by  suddenly 
revealing  the  awfulness  of  her  countenance. 

With  respect  to  her  then  present  mode  of  life,  Lady  Hester 
informed  me,  that  for  her  sin,  she  had  subjected  herself  dur- 
ing many  years  to  serve  penance,  and  that  her  self-denial  had 
not  been  without  its  reward.  "Vain  and  false,"  said  she,  "is 
all  the  pretended  knowledge  of  the  Europeans  —  their  Doctors 
will  tell  you  that  the  drinking  of  milk  gives  yellowness  to 
the  complexion  ;  milk  is  my  only  food,  and  you  see  if  my  face 
be  not  white."  Her  abstinence  from  food  intellectual  was 
carried  as  far  as  her  physical  fasting;  she  never,  she  said, 
looked  upon  a  book  nor  a  newspaper,  but  trusted  alone  to 
the  stars  for  her  sublime  knowledge ;  she  usually  passed  the 
night  in  communing  with  these  heavenly  teachers,  and  lay  at 
rest  during  the  daytime.  She  spoke  with  great  contempt  of 
the  frivolity  and  benighted  ignorance  of  the  modern  Euro- 
peans, and  mentioned,  in  proof  of  this,  that  they  were  not  only 
untaught  in  astrology,  but  were  unacquainted  with  the  com- 
mon and  every-day  phenomena  produced  by  magic  art ;  she 
spoke  as  if  she  would  make  me  understand  that  all  sorcerous 
spells  were  completely  at  her  command,  but  that  the  exercise 
of  such  powers  would  be  derogatory  to  her  high  rank  in  the 
heavenly  kingdom.  She  said  that  the  spell  by  which  the 
face  of  an  absent  person  is  thrown  upon  a  mirror  was  within 
the  reach  of  the  humblest  and  most  contemptible  magicians, 
but  that  the  practise  of  such  like  arts  was  unholy,  as  well  as 
vulgar. 

We  spoke  of  the  bending  twig  by  which  it  is  said  that 
precious  metals  may  be  discovered.  In  relation  to  this,  the 
Prophetess  told  me  a  story  rather  against  herself,  and  inconsist- 
ent with  the  notion  of  her  being  perfect  in  her  science,  but  I 
think  that  she  mentioned  the  facts  as  having  happened  before 
the  time  at  which  she  attained  to  the  great  spiritual  authority 
which  she  now  arrogated ;  she  told  me  that  vast  treasures 
were  known  to  exist  in  a  situation  which  she  mentioned,  if  I 
rightly  remember,  as  being  near  Suez ;  that  Napoleon,  pro- 
fanely brave,  thrust  his  arm  into  the  cave  containing  the 
coveted  gold,  and  that  instantly  his  flesh  became  palsied,  but 
the  youthful  hero  (for  she  said  he  was  great  in  his  genera- 


EOTHEN  73 

tion)  was  not  to  be  thus  daunted ;  he  fell  back  characteristi- 
cally upon  his  brazen  resources,  and  ordered  up  his  artillery ; 
but  man  could  not  strive  with  demons,  and  Napoleon  was 
foiled.  In  years  after  came  Ibrahim  Pasha,  with  heavy  guns, 
and  wicked  spells  to  boot,  but  the  infernal  guardians  of  the 
treasure  were  too  strong  for  him.  It  was  after  this  that 
Lady  Hester  passed  by  the  spot,  and  she  described,  with 
animated  gesture,  the  force  and  energy  with  which  the  divin- 
ing twig  had  suddenly  leaped  in  her  hands ;  she  ordered 
excavations,  and  no  demons  opposed  her  enterprise ;  the  vast 
chest  in  which  the  treasure  had  been  deposited  was  at  length 
discovered,  but  lo  !  and  behold,  it  was  full  of  pebbles  !  She 
said,  however,  that  the  times  were  approaching  in  which  the 
hidden  treasures  of  the  earth  would  become  available  to  those 
who  had  true  knowledge. 

Speaking  of  Ibrahim  Pasha,  Lady  Hester  said  that  he  was 
a  bold,  bad  man,  and  was  possessed  of  some  of  those  common 
and  wicked  magical  arts  upon  which  she  looked  down  with  so 
much  contempt;  she  said,  for  instance,  that  Ibrahim's  life 
was  charmed  against  balls  and  steel,  and  that  after  a  battle 
he  loosened  the  folds  of  his  shawl,  and  shook  out  the  bullets 
like  dust. 

It  seems  that  the  St.  Simonians  once  made  overtures  to 
Lady  Hester;  she  told  me  that  the  Pere  Enfantin  (the  chief 
of  the  sect)  had  sent  her  a  service  of  plate,  but  that  she  had 
declined  to  receive  it ;  she  delivered  a  prediction  as  to  the 
probability  of  the  St.  Simonians  finding  the  "mystic  mother," 
and  this  she  did  in  a  way  which  would  amuse  you ;  unfortu- 
nately, I  am  not  at  liberty  to  mention  this  part  of  the  woman's 
prophecies ;  why,  I  cannot  tell,  but  so  it  is,  that  she  bound 
me  to  eternal  secrecy. 

Lady  Hester  told  me  that  since  her  residence  at  Djoun, 
she  had  been  attacked  by  a  terrible  illness,  which  rendered 
her  for  a  long  time  perfectly  helpless ;  all  her  attendants  fled, 
and  left  her  to  perish.  Whilst  she  lay  thus  alone,  and  quite 
unable  to  rise,  robbers  came,  and  carried  away  her  property  ;^ 

^  The  proceedings  thus  described  to  me  by  Lady  Hester,  as  having 
taken  place  during  her  ilhiess,  were  afterwards  reenacted  at  the  time  of  her 
death.  Since  I  wrote  the  words  to  which  this  note  is  appended,  I  received 
from  an  English  traveler  this  interesting  account  of  the  heroine's  death, 


74  KINGLAKE 

she  told  me  that  they  actually  unroofed  a  great  part  of  the 
building,  and  employed  engines  with  pulleys  for  the  purpose 
of  hoisting  out  such  of  her  valuables  as  were  too  bulky  to  pass 
through  doors.  It  would  seem  that,  before  this  catastrophe, 
Lady  Hester  had  been  rich  in  the  possession  of  Eastern  lux- 
uries, for  she  told  me  that  when  the  chiefs  of  the  Ottoman 
force  took  refuge  with  her  after  the  fall  of  Acre,  they  brought 
their  wives  also  in  great  numbers ;  to  all  of  these  Lady  Hes- 
ter, as  she  said,  presented  magnificent  dresses,  but  her  gen- 
erosity occasioned  strife  only  instead  of  gratitude,  for  every 
woman  who  fancied  her  present  less  splendid  than  that  of 
another,  with  equal  or  less  pretension,  became  absolutely 
furious ;  all  these  audacious  guests  had  now  been  got  rid  of, 
but  the  Albanian  soldiers,  who  had  taken  refuge  with  Lady 
Hester  at  the  same  time,  still  remained  under  her  protection. 
In  truth,  this  half-ruined  convent,  guarded  by  the  proud 
heart  of  an  English  gentlewoman,  was  the  only  spot  through- 
out all  Syria  and  Palestine  in  which  the  will  of  Mehemet  All 
and  his  fierce  Lieutenant  was  not  the  law.     More  than  once 

or  rather  of  the  circumstances  attending  the  discovery  of  the  event ;  the 
letter  is  dated  Djoun  (Lady  Hester's  late  residence)  and  contains  the 
following  passages :  "  I  reached  this  strange  hermitage  last  night,  and 
though  time  and  some  naval  officers  are  urging  my  departure,  I  am  too 
glad  to  find  myself  in  a  place  whereof  we  have  often  discoursed,  to  allow 
the  opportunity  of  writing  to  you  to  pass  by.  How  beautiful  must  this 
convent-palace  have  been  when  you  saw  it,  its  strange  mistress  doing  its 

hospitalities  and  exercising  her  self-won  regal  power  !    A  friend  of has 

a  letter  from  the  Sultan  to  her,  beginning  'Cousin.'  She  annihilated  a 
village  for  disobedience,  and  burned  a  mountain  chalet  with  all  its  inhabit- 
ants, for  the  murder  of  a  traveler.  .  .  .  She  held  on  gallantly  to  the 
last.  Moore,  our  Consul  at  Beyrout,  heard  she  was  ill,  and  rode  over  the 
mountains,  accompained  by  a  missionary,  to  visit  her.  A  profound  silence 
was  over  all  the  palace  —  no  one  met  them  —  they  lighted  their  own  lamps 
in  the  outer  court,  and  passed  unquestioned  through  court  and  gallery,  till 
they  came  to  where  she  lay  :  a  corpse  was  the  only  inhabitant  of  Djoun, 
and  the  isolation  from  her  kind  which  she  so  long  sought  was  indeed  com- 
pleted. That  morning  thirty-seven  servants  had  watched  every  motion  of 
her  eye ;  that  spell  once  darkened  by  death,  every  one  fled  with  the  plun- 
der; not  a  single  thing  was  left  in  the  room  where  she  lay  dead,  except 
upon  her  person ;  no  one  had  ventured  to  touch  that,  and  even  in  death 
she  seemed  able  to  protect  herself.  At  midnight  the  missionary  carried 
her  out  to  a  favorite  resort  of  hers  in  the  garden,  and  there  they  buried 
her.  .  .  .     The  buildings  are  fast  falling  into  decay." 


EOTHEN  75 

had  the  Pasha  of  Egypt  commanded  that  Ibrahim  should 
have  the  Albanians  delivered  up  to  him,  but  this  white  woman 
of  the  mountain  (grown  classical,  not  by  books,  but  by  very 
pride)  answered  only  with  a  disdainful  invitation  to  "  come 
and  take  them."  Whether  it  was  that  Ibrahim  was  acted 
upon  by  any  superstitious  dread  of  interfering  with  the 
Prophetess  (a  notion  not  at  all  incompatible  with  his  character 
as  an  able  Oriental  commander),  or  that  he  feared  the  ridicule 
of  putting  himself  in  collision  with  a  gentlewoman,  he  cer- 
tainly never  ventured  to  attack  the  sanctuary,  and  so  long  as 
the  Chatham's  granddaughter  breathed  a  breath  of  life,  there 
was  always  this  one  hillock,  and  that,  too,  in  the  midst  of  a 
most  populous  district,  which  stood  out  and  kept  its  freedom. 
Mehemet  Ali  used  to  say,  I  am  told,  that  the  Englishwoman 
had  given  him  more  trouble  than  all  the  insurgent  people  of 
Syria  and  Palestine. 

The  Prophetess  announced  to  me  that  we  were  upon  the 
eve  of  a  stupendous  convulsion,  which  would  destroy  the  then 
recognized  value  of  all  property  upon  earth,  and  declaring 
that  those  only  who  should  be  in  the  East  at  the  time  of  the 
great  change  could  hope  for  greatness  in  the  new  life  that 
was  now  close  at  hand,  she  advised  me,  whilst  there  was  yet 
time,  to  dispose  of  my  property  in  fragile  England,  and  gain 
a  station  in  Asia  ;  she  told  me  that,  after  leaving  her,  I  should 
go  into  Egypt,  but  that  in  a  little  while  I  should  return  into 
Syria.  I  secretly  smiled  at  this  last  prophecy  as  a  "bad  shot," 
for  I  had  fully  determined,  after  visiting  the  pyramids,  to 
take  ship  from  Alexandria  for  Greece.  But  men  struggle 
vainly  in  the  meshes  of  their  destiny  ;  the  unbelieved  Cassan- 
dra was  right  after  all ;  the  Plague  came,  and  the  necessity 
of  avoiding  the  quarantine  to  which  I  should  have  been  sub- 
jected, if  I  had  sailed  from  Alexandria,  forced  me  to  alter  my 
route :  I  went  down  into  Egypt,  and  stayed  there  for  a  time, 
and  then  crossed  the  desert  once  more,  and  came  back  to  the 
mountains  of  the  Lebanon  exactly  as  the  Prophetess  had  fore- 
told. 

Lady  Hester  talked  to  me  long  and  earnestly  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Religion,  announcing  that  the  Messiah  was  yet  to 
come :  she  strove  to  impress  me  with  the  vanity  and  the 
falseness  of  all  European  creeds,  as  well  as  with  a  sense  of 


-je  KINGLAKE 

her  own  spiritual  greatness :  throughout  her  conversation 
upon  these  high  topics,  she  skilfully  insinuated,  without  actu- 
ally asserting,  her  heavenly  rank. 

Amongst  other  much  more  marvelous  powers,  the  Lady 
claimed  to  have  one  which  most  women,  I  fancy,  possess, 
namely,  that  of  reading  men's  characters  in  their  faces ;  she 
examined  the  line  of  my  features  very  attentively,  and  told 
me  the  result,  which,  however,  I  mean  to  keep  hidden. 

One  great  subject  of  discourse  was  that  of  "  race,"  upon 
which  she  was  very  diffuse,  and  yet  rather  mysterious ;  she 
set  great  value  upon  the  ancient  French  (not  Norman  blood, 
for  that  she  vilified),  but  did  not  at  all  appreciate  that  which 
we  call  in  this  country  an  "old  family."^  She  had  a  vast 
idea  of  the  Cornish  miners  on  account  of  their  race,  and  said, 
if  she  chose,  she  could  give  me  the  means  of  rousing  them 
to  the  most  tremendous  enthusiasm. 

Such  are  the  topics  on  which  the  Lady  mainly  conversed, 
but  very  often  she  would  descend  to  more  worldly  chat,  and 
then  she  was  no  longer  the  prophetess,  but  the  sort  of  woman 
that  you  sometimes  see,  I  am  told,  in  London  drawing-rooms, 
—  cool  —  unsparing  of  enemies  —  full  of  audacious  fun,  and 
saying  the  downright  things  that  the  sheepish  society  around 
her  is  afraid  to  utter.  I  am  told  that  Lady  Hester  was  in 
her  youth  a  capital  mimic,  and  she  showed  me  that  not  all 
the  queenly  dulness  to  which  she  had  condemned  herself, 
not  all  her  fasting  and  solitude,  had  destroyed  this  terrible 
power.  The  first  whom  she  crucified  in  my  presence  was 
poor  Lord  Byron ;  she  had  seen  him,  it  appeared,  I  know 
not  where,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  East,  and  was  vastly 
amused  at  his  little  affectations ;  he  had  picked  up  a  few 
sentences  of  the  Romaic,  with  which  he  affected  to  give 
orders  to  his  Greek  servant;  I  can't  tell  whether  Lady 
Hester's  mimicry  of  the  bard  was  at  all  close,  but  it  was 
amusing :  she  attributed  to  him  a  curiously  coxcombical  lisp. 

Another  person  whose  style  of  speaking  the  Lady  took  off 

1  In  a  letter  which  I  afterv\'ards  received  from  Lady  Hester,  she  men- 
tioned incidentally  Lord  Hardwicke,  and  said  that  he  was  "  the  kindest- 
hearted  man  existing —  a  most  manly,  firm  character.  He  comes  from  a 
good  breed, —  all  the  Yorkes  excellent,  with  ancient  French  blood  in  their 
veins." 


EOTHEN  yj 

very  amusingly  was  one  who  would  scarcely  object  to  suffer 
by  the  side  of  Lord  Byron,  —  I  mean  Lamartine,  who  had 
visited  her  in  the  course  of  his  travels  ;  the  peculiarity  which 
attracted  her  ridicule  was  an  overrefinement  of  manner : 
according  to  my  Lady's  imitation  of  Lamartine  (I  have  never 
seen  him  myself),  he  had  none  of  the  violent  grimace  of  his 
countrymen,  and  not  even  their  usual  way  of  talking,  but* 
rather  bore  himself  mincingly,  like  the  humbler  sort  of 
English  Dandy.^ 

Lady  Hester  seems  to  have  heartily  despised  everything 
approaching  to  exquisiteness ;  she  told  me,  by  the  by  (and 
her  opinion  upon  that  subject  is  worth  having),  that  a  down- 
right manner,  amounting  even  to  brusqueness,  is  more  effec- 
tive than  any  other  with  the  Oriental ;  and  that  amongst  the 
English,  of  all  ranks  and  all  classes,  there  is  no  man  so 
attractive  to  the  Orientals  —  no  man  who  can  negotiate  with 
them  half  so  effectively,  as  a  good,  honest,  open-hearted,  and 
positive  naval  officer  of  the  old  school. 

I  have  told  you,  I  think,  that  Lady  Hester  could  deal 
fiercely  with  those  she  hated ;  one  man  above  all  others  (he 
is  now  uprooted  from  society,  and  cast  away  forever)  she 
blasted  with  her  wrath ;  you  would  have  thought  that  in 
the  scornfulness  of  her  nature,  she  must  have  sprung  upon 
her  foe  with  more  of  fierceness  than  of  skill ;  but  this  was  not 
so,  for  with  all  the  force  and  vehemence  of  her  invective,  she 
displayed  a  sober,  patient,  and  minute  attention  to  the  details 
of  vituperation,  which  contributed  to  its  success  a  thousand 
times  more  than  mere  violence. 

During  the  hours  that  this  sort  of  conversation  or  rather 
discourse  was  going  on,  our  tchibouques  were  from  time  to 
time  replenished,  and  the  Lady,  as  well  as  I,  continued  to 
smoke  with  little  or  no  intermission,  till  the  interview  ended. 

^  It  is  said  that  deaf  people  can  hear  what  is  said  concerning  themselves, 
and  it  would  seem  that  those  who  live  without  books,  or  newspapers,  know 
all  that  is  written  about  them.  Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  though  not  admit- 
ting a  book  or  newspaper  into  her  fortress,  seems  to  have  known  the  way 
in  which  M.  Lamartine  mentioned  her  in  his  book,  for  in  a  letter  which  she 
wrote  to  me  after  my  return  to  England,  she  says,  "  Although  neglected,  as 
Monsieur  Le  M."  (referring  as  I  believe  to  M.  Lamartine)  "describes,  and 
without  books,  yet  my  head  is  organized  to  supply  the  want  of  them,  as 
well  as  acquired  knowledge." 


78  KINGLAKE 

I  think  that  the  fragrant  fumes  of  the  Latakiah  must  have 
helped  to  keep  me  on  my  good  behavior  as  a  patient  disciple 
of  the  Prophetess. 

It  was  not  till  after  midnight  that  my  visit  for  the  evening 
came  to  an  end.  When  I  quitted  my  seat  the  Lady  rose,  and 
stood  up  in  the  same  formal  attitude  (almost  that  of  a  soldier 
'in  a  state  of  "  attention  ")  which  she  had  assumed  at  my 
entrance ;  at  the  same  time  she  let  go  the  drapery  which  she 
had  held  over  her  lap  whilst  sitting,  and  allowed  it  to  fall  on 
the  ground. 

The  next  morning  after  breakfast  I  was  visited  by  my 
Lady's  Secretary  —  the  only  European,  except  the  Doctor, 
whom  she  retained  in  her  household.  The  Secretary,  like 
the  Doctor,  was  Italian,  but  he  preserved  more  signs  of 
European  dress  and  European  pretensions  than  his  medical 
fellow-slave.  He  spoke  little  or  no  English,  though  he  wrote 
it  pretty  well,  having  been  formerly  employed  in  a  mercantile 
house  connected  with  England.  The  poor  fellow  was  in  an 
unhappy  state  of  mind.  In  order  to  make  you  understand 
the  extent  of  his  spiritual  anxieties,  I  ought  to  have  told  you 
that  the  Doctor  (who  had  sunk  into  the  complete  Asiatic, 
and  had  condescended  accordingly  to  the  performance  of 
even  menial  services)  had  adopted  the  common  faith  of  all 
the  neighboring  people,  and  had  become  a  firm  and  happy 
believer  in  the  divine  power  of  his  mistress.  Not  so  the 
Secretary ;  when  I  had  strolled  with  him  to  a  distance  from 
the  building,  which  rendered  him  safe  from  being  overheard 
by  human  ears,  he  told  me  in  a  hollow  voice,  trembling  with 
emotion,  that  there  were  times  at  which  he  doubted  the 
divinity  of  "  Miledi."  I  said  nothing  to  encourage  the  poor 
fellow  in  that  frightful  state  of  skepticism,  which,  if  indulged, 
might  end  in  positive  infidelity.  I  found  that  her  Lady- 
ship had  rather  arbitrarily  abridged  the  amusements  of  her 
Secretary,  forbidding  him  from  shooting  small  birds  on  the 
mountainside.  This  oppression  had  roused  in  him  a  spirit 
of  inquiry  that  might  end  fatally  —  perhaps  for  himself  — 
perhaps  for  the  "religion  of  the  place." 

The  Secretary  told  me  that  his  Mistress  was  greatly  dis- 
liked by  the  surrounding  people,  whom  she  oppressed  by  her 
exactions,  and  the  truth  of  this  statement  was  borne  out  by 


EOTHEN  79 

the  way  in  which  my  Lady  spoke  to  me  of  her  neighbors. 
But  in  Eastern  countries,  hate  and  veneration  are  very  com- 
monly felt  for  the  same  object,  and  the  general  belief  in  the 
superhuman  power  of  this  wonderful  white  lady  —  her  reso- 
lute and  imperious  character,  and  above  all,  perhaps,  her 
fierce  Albanians  (not  backward  to  obey  an  order  for  the  sack- 
ing of  a  village),  inspired  sincere  respect  amongst  the  sur- 
rounding inhabitants.  Now  the  being  "  respected  "  amongst 
Orientals  is  not  an  empty,  or  merely  honorary,  distinction ; 
for,  on  the  contrary,  it  carries  with  it  a  clear  right  to  take 
your  neighbor's  corn,  his  cattle,  his  eggs,  and  his  honey, 
and  almost  anything  that  is  his,  except  his  wives.  This  law 
was  acted  upon  by  the  Princess  of  Djoun,  and  her  establish- 
ment was  supplied  by  contributions  apportioned  amongst  the 
nearest  of  the  villages. 

I  understood  that  the  Albanians  (restrained,  I  suppose,  by 
their  dread  of  being  delivered  up  to  Ibrahim)  had  not  given 
any  very  troublesome  proofs  of  their  unruly  natures.  The 
Secretary  told  me  that  their  rations,  including  a  small  allow- 
ance of  coffee  and  tobacco,  were  served  out  to  them  with 
tolerable  regularity. 

I  asked  the  Secretary  how  Lady  Hester  was  off  for  horses, 
and  said  that  I  would  take  a  look  at  the  stable ;  the  man  did 
not  raise  any  opposition  to  my  proposal,  and  affected  no 
mystery  about  the  matter,  but  said  that  the  only  two  steeds 
which  then  belonged  to  her  Ladyship  were  of  a  very  humble 
sort ;  this  answer,  and  a  storm  of  rain  which  began  to  de- 
scend, prevented  me  at  the  time  from  undertaking  my  journey 
to  the  stable,  which  was  at  some  distance  from  the  part  of 
the  building  in  which  I  was  quartered,  and  I  don't  know  that 
I  ever  thought  of  the  matter  afterwards,  until  my  return  to 
England,  when  I  saw  Lamartine's  eye-witnessing  account  of 
the  horse  saddled  by  the  hands  of  his  Maker ! 

When  I  returned  to  my  apartment  (which,  as  my  hostess 
told  me,  was  the  only  one  in  the  whole  building  that  kept 
out  the  rain),  her  Ladyship  sent  to  say  that  she  would  be  glad 
to  receive  me  again ;  I  was  rather  surprised  at  this,  for  I  had 
understood  that  she  reposed  during  the  day,  and  it  was  now 
little  later  than  noon.  "  Really,"  said  she,  when  I  had  taken 
my  seat  and  my  pipe,  "  we  were  together  for  hours  last  night, 


80  KINGLAKE 

and  still  I  have  heard  nothing  at  all  of  my  old  friends :  now 
do  tell  me  something  of  your  dear  mother  and  her  sister ;  I 
never  knew  your  father  —  it  was  after  I  left  13urton  Pynsent 
that  your  mother  married."  I  began  to  make  slow  answer, 
but  my  questioner  soon  went  off  again  to  topics  more  sublime, 
so  that  this  second  interview,  which  lasted  two  or  three  hours, 
was  occupied  with  the  same  sort  of  varied  discourse  as  that 
which  I  have  been  describing. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  the  captain  of  an  English 
man-of-war  arrived  at  Djoun,  and  her  Ladyship  determined 
to  receive  him  for  the  same  reason  as  that  which  had  induced 
her  to  allow  my  visit  —  namely,  an  early  intimacy  with  his 
family.  I  and  the  new  visitor,  who  was  a  pleasant,  amusing 
person,  dined  together,  and  we  were  afterwards  invited  to 
the  presence  of  my  Lady,  with  whom  we  sat  smoking  and 
talking  till  midnight.  The  conversation  turned  chiefly,  I 
think,  upon  magical  science.  I  had  determined  to  be  off  at 
an  early  hour  the  next  morning,  and  so  at  the  end  of  this 
interview  I  bade  my  Lady  farewell.  With  her  parting  words 
she  once  more  advised  me  to  abandon  Europe,  and  seek  my 
reward  in  the  East,  and  she  urged  me,  too,  to  give  the  like 
counsels  to  my  father,  and  tell  him  that  "  She  had  said  it." 

Lady  Hester's  unholy  claim  to  supremacy  in  the  spiritual 
kingdom  was,  no  doubt,  the  suggestion  of  fierce  and  inordi- 
nate pride,  most  perilously  akin  to  madness,  but  I  am  quite 
sure  that  the  mind  of  the  woman  was  too  strong  to  be 
thoroughly  overcome  by  even  this  potent  feeling.  I  plainly 
saw  that  she  was  not  an  unhesitating  follower  of  her  own 
system,  and  I  even  fancied  that  I  could  distinguish  the  brief 
moments  during  which  she  contrived  to  believe  in  Herself, 
from  those  long  and  less  happy  intervals  in  which  her  own 
reason  was  too  strong  for  her. 

As  for  the  Lady's  faith  in  Astrology  and  Magic  Science, 
you  are  not  for  a  moment  to  suppose  that  this  implied  any 
aberration  of  intellect.  She  believed  these  things  in  com- 
mon with  those  around  her,  for  she  seldom  spoke  to  any- 
body, except  crazy  old  dervishes,  who  received  her  alms, 
and  fostered  her  extravagances,  and  even  when  (as  on  the 
occasion  of  my  visit)  she  was  brought  into  contact  with  a 
person  entertaining  different  notions,  she  still  remained  un- 


EOTHEN  8 1 

contradicted.  This  entourage,  and  the  habit  of  fasting  from 
books  and  newspapers,  were  quite  enough  to  make  her  a 
facile  recipient  of  any  marvelous  story. 

I  think  that  in  England  we  are  scarcely  sufficiently  con- 
scious of  the  great  debt  we  owe  to  the  wise  and  watchful 
press  which  presides  over  the  formation  of  our  opinions,  and 
which  brings  about  this  splendid  result,  namely,  that  in  mat- 
ters of  belief  the  humblest  of  us  are  lifted  up  to  the  level 
of  the  most  sagacious,  so  that  really  a  simple  Cornet  in  the 
Blues  is  no  more  likely  to  entertain  a  foolish  belief  about 
ghosts  or  witchcraft,  or  any  other  supernatural  topic,  than 
the  Lord  High  Chancellor  or  the  Leader  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  How  different  is  the  intellectual  regime  of 
Eastern  countries !  In  Syria,  and  Palestine,  and  Egypt,  you 
might  as  well  dispute  the  efficacy  of  grass  or  grain  as  of 
Magic.  There  is  no  controversy  about  the  matter.  The 
effect  of  this,  the  unanimous  belief  of  an  ignorant  people, 
upon  the  mind  of  a  stranger,  is  extremely  curious,  and  well 
worth  noticing.  A  man  coming  fresh  from  Europe  is  at 
first  proof  against  the  nonsense  with  which  he  is  assailed, 
but  often  it  happens  that  after  a  little  while  the  social  atmos- 
phere in  which  he  lives  will  begin  to  infect  him,  and  if  he 
has  been  unaccustomed  to  the  cunning  of  fence  by  which 
Reason  prepares  the  means  of  guarding  herself  against 
fallacy,  he  will  yield  himself  at  last  to  the  faith  of  those 
around  him,  and  this  he  will  do  by  sympathy,  it  would  seem, 
rather  than  from  conviction.  I  have  been  much  interested 
in  observing  that  the  mere  "practical  man,"  however  skilful 
and  shrewd  in  his  own  way,  has  not  the  kind  of  power  which 
enables  him  to  resist  the  gradual  impression  which  is  made 
upon  his  mind  by  the  common  opinion  of  those  whom  he 
sees  and  hears  from  day  to  day.  Even  amongst  the  English 
(whose  good  sense  and  sound  religious  knowledge  would  be 
likely  to  guard  them  from  error),  I  have  known  the  calcula- 
ting  merchant,  the  inquisitive  traveler,  and  the  post-captain, 
with  his  bright,  wakeful  eye  of  command  —  I  have  known  all 
these  surrender  themselves  to  the  really  magic-like  influence 
of  other  people's  minds ;  their  language  at  first  is,  that  they 
are  "staggered,"  leading  you  by  that  expression  to  suppose 
that  they  had  been  witnesses  to  some  phenomenon  which  it 


82  KINGLAKE 

was  very  difficult  to  account  for  otherwise  than  by  super- 
natural causes ;  but  when  I  have  questioned  further,  I  have 
always  found  that  these  "  staggering  "  wonders  were  not  even 
specious  enough  to  be  looked  upon  as  good  "  tricks."  A  man 
in  England,  who  gained  his  whole  livelihood  as  a  conjurer, 
would  soon  be  starved  to  death  if  he  could  perform  no  better 
miracles  than  those  which  are  wrought  with  so  much  effect 
in  Syria  and  Egypt  ;  sometimes,  no  doubt,  a  magician  will 
make  a  good  hit  (Sir  Robert  once  said  "  a  good  thing  "),  but 
all  such  successes  range,  of  course,  under  the  head  of  mere 
"tentative  miracles,"  as  distinguished  by  the  strong-brained 
Paley. 


CHAPTER   IX 

The   Sanctuary 

I  CROSSED  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  entered  amongst 
the  hills  of  beautiful  Galilee.  It  was  at  sunset  that  my 
path  brought  me  sharply  round  into  the  gorge  of  a 
little  valley,  and  close  upon  a  gray  mass  of  dwellings  that  lay 
happily  nestled  in  the  lap  of  the  mountain.  There  was  only 
one  shining  point  still  touched  with  the  light  of  the  sun,  who 
had  set  for  all  besides;  a  brave  sign  this  to  **  holy"  Shereef 
and  the  rest  of  my  Moslem  men,  for  the  one  glittering  sum- 
mit was  the  head  of  a  minaret,  and  the  rest  of  the  seeming 
village  that  had  veiled  itself  so  meekly  under  the  shades  of 
evening  was  Christian  Nazareth  ! 

Within  the  precincts  of  the  Latin  convent  in  which  I  was 
quartered,  there  stands  the  great  Catholic  church  which 
encloses  the  Sanctuary  —  the  dwelling  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.^ 
This  is  a  grotto  of  about  ten  feet  either  way,  forming  a  little 

^  The  Greek  Church  does  not  recognize  this  as  the  true  Sanctuary,  and 
many  Protestants  look  upon  all  the  traditions,  by  which  it  is  attempted  to 
ascertain  the  holy  places  of  Palestine,  as  utterly  fabulous.  For  myself,  I 
do  not  mean  either  to  affirm  or  deny  the  correctness  of  the  opinion  which 
has  fixed  upon  this  as  the  true  site,  but  merely  to  mention  it  as  a  belief 
entertained,  without  question,  by  my  brethren  of  the  Latin  Church,  whose 
guest  I  was  at  the  time.  It  would  be  a  great  aggravation  of  the  trouble  of 
writing  about  these  matters,  if  I  were  to  stop  in  the  midst  of  every  sen- 
tence for  the  purpose  of  saying  " so-called  "  or  "so  it  is  said,"  and  would, 
besides,  sound  very  ungraciously ;  yet  I  am  anxious  to  be  literally  tme  in 
all  I  write.  Now,  thus  it  is  that  I  mean  to  get  over  my  difficulty.  When- 
ever, in  this  great  bundle  of  papers,  or  book  (if  book  it  is  to  be),  you  see 
any  words  about  matters  of  religion  which  would  seem  to  involve  the 
assertion  of  my  own  opinion,  you  are  to  understand  me  just  as  if  one  or 
other  of  the  qualifying  phrases  above  mentioned  had  been  actually  inserted 
in  every  sentence.  My  general  direction  for  you  to  construe  me  thus  will 
render  all  that  I  write  as  strictly  and  accurately  true  as  if  I  had  every  time 
lugged  in  a  formal  declaration  of  the  fact  that  I  was  merely  expressing  the 
notions  of  other  people. 

83 


84  KINGLAKE 

chapel  or  recess,  to  which  you  descerxd  by  steps.  It  is  deco- 
rated with  splendor  :  on  the  left  hand  a  column  of  granite 
hangs  from  the  top  of  the  grotto,  to  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
ground ;  immediately  beneath  it  is  another  column  of  the 
same  size,  which  rises  from  the  ground  as  if  to  meet  the  one 
above ;  but  between  this  and  the  suspended  pillar,  there  is  an 
interval  of  more  than  a  foot ;  these  fragments  once  formed 
a  single  column,  against  which  the  angel  leant,  when  he 
spoke,  and  told  to  Mary  the  mystery  of  her  awful  blessed- 
ness.    Hard  by,  near  the  altar,  the  holy  Virgin  was  kneeling. 

I  had  been  journeying  (cheerily  indeed,  for  the  voices  of 
my  followers  were  ever  within  my  hearing,  but  yet)  as  it  were, 
in  solitude,  for  I  had  no  comrade  to  whet  the  edge  of  my 
reason,  or  wake  me  from  my  noonday  dreams.  I  was  left 
all  alone  to  be  taught  and  swayed  by  the  beautiful  circum- 
stances of  Palestine  traveling- — by  the  clime,  and  the  land, 
and  the  name  of  the  land  with  all  its  mighty  import  —  by  the 
glittering  freshness  of  the  sward,  and  the  abounding  masses 
of  flowers  that  furnished  my  sumptuous  pathway  —  by  the 
bracing  and  fragrant  air,  that  seemed  to  poise  me  in  my 
saddle,  and  to  lift  me  along  like  a  planet  appointed  to  glide 
through  space. 

And  the  end  of  my  journey  was  Nazareth —  the  home  of, 
the  Blessed  Virgin !  In  the  first  dawn  of  my  manhood,  the 
old  painters  of  Italy  had  taught  me  their  dangerous  worship 
of  the  beauty  that  is  more  than  mortal,  but  those  images  all 
seemed  shadowy  now,  and  floated  before  me  so  dimly,  the  one 
overcasting  the  other,  that  they  left  me  no  one  sweet  idol  on 
which  I  could  look,  and  look  again,  and  say,  "  Maria  mia !  " 
Yet  they  left  me  more  than  an  idol  —  they  left  me  (for  to 
them  I  am  wont  to  trace  it)  a  faint  apprehension  of  Beauty 
not  compassed  with  lines  and  shadows — they  touched  me 
(forgive,  proud  Marie  of  Anjou!)  —  they  touched  me  with  a 
faith  in  loveliness  transcending  mortal  shapes. 

I  came  to  Nazareth,  and  was  led  from  the  convent  to  the 
Sanctuary.  Long  fasting  will  sometimes  heat  my  brain,  and 
draw  me  away  out  of  the  world  —  will  disturb  my  judgment, 
confuse  my  notions  of  right  and  wrong,  and  weaken  my 
power  of  choosing  the  right ;  I  had  fasted  perhaps  too  long, 
for  I  was  fevered  with  the  zeal  of  an  insane  devotion  to  the 


EOTHEN  85 

Heavenly  Queen  of  Christendom.  But  I  knew  the  feebleness 
of  this  gentle  malady,  and  I  knew  how  easily  my  watchful 
reason,  if  ever  so  slightly  provoked,  would  drag  me  back  to 
life ;  let  there  but  come  one  chilling  breath  of  the  outer 
world,  and  all  this  loving  piety  would  cower,  and  fly  before  the 
sound  of  my  own  bitter  laugh.  And  so  as  I  went,  I  trod 
tenderly,  not  looking  to  the  right,  nor  to  the  left,  but  bending 
my  eyes  to  the  ground. 

The  attending  friar  served  me  well  —  he  led  me  down 
quietly  and  all  but  silently  to  the  Virgin's  home.  The  mystic 
air  was  so  burnt  with  the  consuming  flames  of  the  altar,  and 
so  laden  with  incense,  that  my  chest  labored  strongly  and 
heaved  with  luscious  pain.  There — there  with  beating  heart 
the  Virgin  knelt  and  listened !  I  strove  to  grasp  and  hold 
with  my  riveted  eyes  some  one  of  the  feigned  Madonnas,  but 
of  all  the  heaven-lit  faces  imagined  by  men,  there  was  none 
that  would  abide  with  me  in  this  the  very  Sanctuary,  Impa- 
tient of  vacancy,  I  grew  madly  strong  against  Nature,  and  if  by 
some  awful  spell — some  impious  rite,  I  could —  Oh!  most 
sweet  Religion  that  bade  me  fear  God,  and  be  pious  and  yet 
not  cease  from  loving  !  Religion  and  gracious  Custom  com- 
manded me  that  I  fall  down  loyally,  and  kiss  the  rock  that 
blessed  Mary  pressed.  With  a  half  consciousness  —  with 
the  semblance  of  a  thrilling  hope  that  I  was  plunging  deep, 
deep  into  my  first  knowledge  of  some  most  holy  mystery,  or 
of  some  new,  rapturous,  and  daring  sin,  I  knelt,  and  bowed 
down  my  face  till  I  met  the  smooth  rock  with  my  lips.  One 
moment  —  one  moment  —  my  heart,  or  some  old  Pagan  demon 
within  me,  woke  up,  and  fiercely  bounded  —  my  bosom  was 
lifted  and  swung  —  as  though  I  had  touched  Her  warm  robe. 
One  moment  —  one  more,  and  then  —  the  fever  had  left  me. 
I  rose  from  my  knees.  I  felt  hopelessly  sane.  The  mere 
world  reappeared.  My  good  old  monk  was  there,  dangling 
his  key  with  listless  patience,  and  as  he  guided  me  from  the 
Church  and  talked  of  the  Refectory,  and  the  coming  repast, 
I  listened  to  his  words  with  some  attention  and  pleasure. 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Monks  of  the  Holy  Land 

WHENEVER  you  come  back  to  me  from  Palestine, 
we  will  find  some  "golden  wine  "  ^  of  Lebanon, 
that  we  may  celebrate  with  apt  libations  the  monks 
of  the  Holy  Land,  and,  though  the  poor  fellows  be  theoreti- 
cally "  dead  to  the  world,"  we  will  drink  to  every  man  of  them 
a  good,  long  life,  and  a  merry  one !  Graceless  is  the  traveler 
who  forgets  his  obligations  to  these  saints  upon  earth  —  little 
love  has  he  for  merry  Christendom,  if  he  has  not  rejoiced 
with  great  joy  to  find  in  the  very  midst  of  water-drinking 
infidels  those  lowly  monasteries  in  which  the  blessed  juice  of 
the  grape  is  quaffed  in  peace.  Aye !  Aye !  We  will  fill  our 
glasses  till  they  look  like  cups  of  amber,  and  drink  profoundly 
to  our  gracious  hosts  in  Palestine. 

You  would  be  likely  enough  to  fancy  that  these  monastics 
are  men  who  have  retired  to  the  sacred  sites  of  Palestine  from 
an  enthusiastic  longing  to  devote  themselves  to  the  exercise 
of  religion  in  the  midst  of  the  very  land  on  which  its  first 
seeds  were  cast,  and  this  is  partially,  at  least,  the  case  with 
the  monks  of  the  Greek  Church ;  but  it  is  not  with  enthusiasts 
that  the  Catholic  establishments  are  filled.  The  monks  of  the 
Latin  convents  are  chiefly  persons  of  the  peasant  class,  from 
Italy  and  Spain,  who  have  been  handed  over  to  these  remote 
asylums  by  order  of  their  ecclesiastical  superiors,  and  can  no 
more  account  for  their  being  in  the  Holy  Land  than  men  of 
marching  regiments  can  explain  why  they  are  in  "stupid 
quarters."  I  believe  that  these  monks  are  for  the  most  part 
well-conducted  men,  —  punctual  in  their  ceremonial  duties, 
and  altogether  humble-minded  Christians;  their  humility  is 
not  at  all  misplaced,  for  you  see  at  a  glance  (poor  fellows) 
that  they  belong  to  the  "  lag  remove  "  of  the  human  race ;  if 

»  "  Vino  d'  oro." 
86 


EOTHEN  87 

the  taking  of  the  cowl  does  not  imply  a  complete  renounce- 
ment of  the  world,  it  is  at  least  (in  these  days)  a  bona  fide 
farewell  to  every  kind  of  useful  and  entertaining  knowledge, 
and  accordingly,  the  low  bestial  brow,  and  the  animal  caste  of 
those  almost  Bourbon  features,  show  plainly  enough  that  all  the 
intellectual  vanities  of  life  have  been  really  and  truly  aban- 
doned. But  it  is  hard  to  quench  altogether  the  spirit  of  In- 
quiry that  stirs  in  the  human  breast,  and  accordingly  these 
monks  inquire, — they  are  always  inquiring  —  inquiring  for 
"  news  "  !  Poor  fellows  !  they  could  scarcely  have  yielded 
themselves  to  the  sway  of  any  passion  more  difficult  of  gratifi- 
cation, for  they  have  no  means  of  communicating  with  the  jour- 
nalized world,  except  through  European  travelers  ;  and  these, 
in  consequence,  I  suppose,  of  that  restlessness  and  irritability 
which  generally  haunt  their  wanderings,  seem  to  have  always 
avoided  the  bore  of  giving  any  information  to  their  hosts ;  as 
for  me,  I  am  more  patient  and  good-natured,  and  when  I  found 
that  the  kind  monks  who  gathered  round  me  at  Nazareth  were 
longing  to  know  the  real  truth  about  the  General  Bonaparte, 
who  had  recoiled  from  the  siege  of  Acre,  I  softened  my  heart 
down  to  the  good  humor  of  Herodotus,  and  calmly  began  to 
"  sing  History,"  telling  my  eager  hearers  of  the  French 
Empire,  and  the  greatness  of  its  glory,  and  of  Waterloo,  and 
the  fall  of  Napoleon !  Now  my  story  of  this  marvelous 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  poor  monks  is  one  upon  which 
(though  depending  on  my  own  testimony)  I  look  "  with  consid- 
erable suspicion  "  ;  it  is  quite  true  (how  silly  it  would  be  to 
invent  anything  so  witless  !)  and  yet  I  think  I  could  satisfy  the 
mind  of  a  "  reasonable  man  "  that  it  is  false.  Many  of  the  older 
monks  must  have  been  in  Europe  at  the  time  when  the  Italy 
and  the  Spain  from  which  they  came  were  in  the  act  of  taking 
their  French  lessons,  or  had  parted  so  lately  with  their  teachers, 
that  not  to  know  of  "  the  Emperor  "  was  impossible,  and  these 
men  could  scarcely,  therefore,  have  failed  to  bring  with  them 
some  tidings  of  Napoleon's  career.  Yet  I  say  that  that  which 
I  have  written  is  true,  —  the  one  who  believes  because  I  have 
said  it,  will  be  right  (she  always  is),  —  while  poor  Mr.  "rea- 
sonable man,"  who  is  convinced  by  the  weight  of  my  argu- 
ment, will  be  completely  deceived. 

In  Spanish  politics,  however,  the  monks  are  better  instructed, 


S8  KINGLAKE 

the  revenues  of  the  monasteries,  which  had  been  principally 
supplied  by  the  bounty  of  their  most  Catholic  Majesties,  have 
been  withheld  since  Ferdinand's  death,  and  the  interests  of 
these  establishments  being  thus  closely  involved  in  the  destinies 
of  Spain,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  the  brethren  should  be  a 
little  more  knowing  in  Spanish  affairs  than  in  other  branches 
of  history.  Besides,  a  large  proportion  of  the  monks  were 
natives  of  the  Peninsula ;  to  these,  I  remember,  Mysseri's 
familiarity  with  the  Spanish  language  and  character  was  a 
source  of  immense  delight ;  they  were  always  gathering 
around  him,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  they  treasured  like 
gold  the  few  Castilian  words  which  he  deigned  to  spare 
them. 

Christianity  permits  and  sanctions  the  drinldng  of  wine,  and 
of  all  the  holy  brethren  of  Palestine,  there  are  none  who  hold 
fast  to  this  gladsome  rite  so  strenuously  as  the  monks  of 
Damascus  ;  not  that  they  are  more  zealous  Christians  than 
the  rest  of  their  fellows  in  the  Holy  Land,  but  that  they  have 
better  wine.  Whilst  I  was  at  Damascus,  I  had  my  quarters 
at  the  Franciscan  convent  there,  and  very  soon  after  my 
arrival  I  asked  one  of  the  monks  to  let  me  know  something 
of  the  spots  which  deserved  to  be  seen ;  I  made  my  inquiry 
in  reference  to  the  associations  with  which  the  city  had  been 
hallowed  by  the  sojourn  and  adventures  of  St.  Paul.  "  There 
is  nothing  in  all  Damascus,"  said  the  good  man,  "half  so  well 
worth  seeing  as  our  cellars,"  and  forthwith  he  invited  me  to 
go,  see,  and  admire  the  long  ranges  of  liquid  treasure  which 
he  and  his  brethren  had  laid  up  for  themselves  on  earth. 
And  these,  I  soon  found,  were  not  as  the  treasures  of  the 
miser  that  lie  in  unprofitable  disuse,  for  day  by  day,  and  hour 
by  hour,  the  golden  juice  ascended  from  the  dark  recesses  of 
the  cellar  to  the  uppermost  brains  of  the  monks ;  dear  old 
fellows  !  in  the  midst  of  that  solemn  land,  their  Christian 
laughter  rang  loudly  and  merrily  —  their  eyes  flashed  with 
unceasing  bonfires,  and  their  heavy  woolen  petticoats  could 
no  more  weigh  down  the  springiness  of  their  paces,  than  the 
nominal  gauze  of  a  danseuse  can  clog  her  bounding  step. 

The  monks  do  a  world  of  good  in  their  way,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubting  that  previously  to  the  arrival  of  Bishop 
Alexander,  with  his  numerous  young  family  and  his  pretty 


EOTHEN  89 

English  nursemaids,  they  were  the  chief  Propagandists  of 
Christianity  in  Palestine.  My  old  friends  of  the  Franciscan 
convent  at  Jerusalem,  some  time  since,  gave  proof  of  their 
goodness  by  delivering  themselves  up  to  the  peril  of  death 
for  the  sake  of  Duty.  When  I  was  their  guest,  they  were 
forty,  I  believe,  in  number,  and  I  don't  recollect  that  there 
was  one  of  them  whom  I  should  have  looked  upon  as  a  desir- 
able life-holder  of  any  property  to  which  I  might  be  entitled 
in  expectancy.  Yet  these  forty  were  reduced  in  a  few  days 
to  nineteen ;  the  Plague  was  the  messenger  that  summoned 
them  to  a  taste  of  real  death,  but  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  perished  are  rather  curious,  and  though  I  have  no 
authority  for  the  story  except  an  Italian  newspaper,  I  harbor 
no  doubt  of  its  truth,  for  the  facts  were  detailed  with  minute- 
ness, and  strictly  correspond  with  all  that  I  knew  of  the  poor 
fellows  to  whom  they  related. 

It  was  about  three  months  after  the  time  of  my  leaving 
Jerusalem,  that  the  Plague  set  his  spotted  foot  on  the  Holy 
City.  The  monks  felt  great  alarm  ;  they  did  not  shrink  from 
their  duty,  but  for  its  performance  they  chose  a  plan  most 
sadly  well  fitted  for  bringing  down  upon  them  the  very  death 
which  they  were  striving  to  ward  off.  They  imagined  them- 
selves almost  safe,  so  long  as  they  remained  within  their  walls  ; 
but  then  it  was  quite  needful  that  the  Catholic  Christians  of 
the  place,  who  had  always  looked  to  the  convent  for  the 
supply  of  their  spiritual  wants,  should  receive  the  aids  of 
religion  in  the  hour  of  death.  A  single  monk,  therefore,  was 
chosen  either  by  lot,  or  by  some  other  fair  appeal  to  Destiny ; 
being  thus  singled  out,  he  was  to  go  forth  into  the  plague- 
stricken  city,  and  to  perform  with  exactness  his  priestly  duties ; 
then  he  was  to  return,  not  to  the  interior  of  the  convent,  for 
fear  of  infecting  his  brethren,  but  to  a  detached  building 
(which  I  remember)  belonging  to  the  establishment,  but  at 
some  little  distance  from  the  inhabited  rooms ;  he  was  pro- 
vided with  a  bell,  and  at  a  certain  hour  in  the  morning  he 
was  ordered  to  ring  it,  if  he  could ;  but  if  no  sound  was  heard 
at  the  appointed  time,  then  knew  his  brethren  that  he  was 
either  delirious,  or  dtad,  and  another  martyr  was  sent  forth  to 
take  his  place.  In  this  way  twenty-one  of  the  monks  were 
carried  off.     One  cannot  well  fail  to  admire  the  steadiness 


90  KINGLAKE 

with  which  the  dismal  scheme  was  carried  through ;  but  if 
there  be  any  truth  in  the  notion  that  disease  may  be  invited 
by  a  frightening  imagination,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  a  more 
dangerous  plan  than  that  which  was  chosen  by  these  poor 
fellows.  The  anxiety  with  which  they  must  have  expected 
each  day  the  sound  of  the  bell  —  the  silence  that  reigned 
instead  of  it,  and  then  the  drawing  of  the  lots  (the  odds 
against  death  being  one  point  lower  than  yesterday)  and  the 
going  forth  of  the  newly  doomed  man — all  this  must  have 
widened  the  gulf  that  opens  to  the  shades  below ;  when  his 
victim  had  already  suffered  so  much  of  mental  torture,  it  was 
but  easy  work  for  big,  bullying  Pestilence  to  follow  a  forlorn 
monk  from  the  beds  of  the  dying,  and  wrench  away  his  life 
from  him,  as  he  lay  all  alone  in  an  outhouse. 

In  most,  I  believe  in  all  of  the  Holy  Land  convents,  there 
are  two  personages  so  strangely  raised  above  their  brethren 
in  all  that  dignifies  humanity,  that  their  bearing  the  same 
habit  —  their  dwelling  under  the  same  roof  —  their  worship- 
ing the  same  God  (consistent  as  all  this  is  with  the  spirit  of 
their  religion),  yet  strikes  the  mind  with  a  sense  of  wondrous 
incongruity ;  the  men  I  speak  of  are  the  "  Padre  Superiore  " 
and  the  "  Padre  Missionario."  The  former  is  the  supreme 
and  absolute  governor  of  the  establishment  over  which  he  is 
appointed  to  rule  ;  the  latter  is  entrusted  with  the  more  active 
of  the  spiritual  duties  which  attach  to  the  Pilgrim  Church. 
He  is  the  shepherd  of  the  good  Catholic  flock  whose  pasture 
is  prepared  in  the  midst  of  Mussulmans  and  schismatics  —  he 
keeps  the  light  of  the  true  faith  ever  vividly  before  their  eyes 

—  reproves  their  vices  —  supports  them  in  their  good  resolves 

—  consoles  them  in  their  afflictions,  and  teaches  them  to  hate 
the  Greek  Church.  Such  are  his  labors,  and  you  may  conceive 
that  great  tact  must  be  needed  for  conducting  with  success 
the  spiritual  interests  of  the  church  under  circumstances  so 
odd  as  those  which  surround  it  in  Palestine. 

But  the  position  of  the  Padre  Superiore  is  still  more  delicate  : 
he  is  almost  unceasingly  in  treaty  with  the  powers  that  be,  and 
the  worldly  prosperity  of  the  establishment  over  which  he  pre- 
sides is  in  great  measure  dependent  upon  the  extent  of  diplo- 
matic skill  which  he  can  employ  in  its  favor.  I  know  not 
from  what  class  of  churchmen  these  personages  are  chosen, 


EOTHEN  91 

for  there  is  a  mystery  attending  their  origin  and  the  circum- 
stance of  their  being  stationed  in  these  convents,  which  Rome 
does  not  suffer  to  be  penetrated.  I  have  heard  it  said  that 
they  are  men  of  great  note,  and,  perhaps,  of  too  high  ambition 
in  the  CathoHc  Hierarchy,  who,  having  fallen  under  the  grave 
censure  of  the  Church,  are  banished  for  fixed  periods  to  these 
distant  monasteries.  I  believe  that  the  term  during  which 
they  are  condemned  to  remain  in  the  Holy  Land  is  from  eight 
to  twelve  years.  By  the  natives  of  the  country,  as  well  as  by 
the  rest  of  the  brethren,  they  are  looked  upon  as  superior 
beings ;  and  rightly,  too,  for  nature  seems  to  have  crowned 
them  in  her  own  true  way. 

The  chief  of  the  Jerusalem  convent  was  a  noble  creature  ; 
his  worldly  and  spiritual  authority  seemed  to  have  surrounded 
him,  as  it  were,  with  a  kind  of  "  Court,"  and  the  manly  grace- 
fulness of  his  bearing  did  honor  to  the  throne  which  he  filled. 
There  were  no  lords  of  the  bedchamber,  and  no  gold  sticks 
and  stones  in  waiting,  yet  everybody  who  approached  him 
looked  as  though  he  were  being  "presented"  —  every  inter- 
view which  he  granted  wore  the  air  of  an  "audience";  the 
brethren,  as  often  as  they  came  near,  bowed  low,  and  kissed 
his  hand,  and  if  he  went  out,  the  Catholics  of  the  place  that 
hovered  about  the  convent  would  crowd  around  him  with 
devout  affection,  and  almost  scramble  for  the  blessing  which 
his  touch  could  give.  He  bore  his  honors  all  serenely,  as 
though  calmly  conscious  of  his  power  to  "bind  and  to  loose." 


CHAPTER   XI 

From  Nazareth  to  Tiberias 

"  EITHER  old  "Sacred"^  himself,  nor  any  of  his  help- 
ers, knew  the  road  which  I  meant  to  take  from 
Nazareth  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  from  thence  to 
Jerusalem,  so  I  was  forced  to  add  another  to  my  party,  by 
hiring  a  guide.  The  associations  of  Nazareth,  as  well  as  my 
kind  feeling  towards  the  hospitable  monks  whose  guest  I 
had  been,  inclined  me  to  set  at  naught  the  advice  which  I 
had  received  against  employing  Christians.  I  accordingly 
engaged  a  lithe,  active  young  Nazarene,  who  was  recom- 
mended to  me  by  the  monks,  and  who  affected  to  be  familiar 
with  the  line  of  country  through  which  I  intended  to  pass. 
My  disregard  of  the  popular  prejudice  against  Christians  was 
not  justified  in  this  particular  instance  by  the  result  of  my 
choice.     This  you  will  see  by  and  by. 

I  passed  by  Cana,  and  the  house  in  which  the  water  had 
been  turned  into  wine  —  I  came  to  the  field  in  which  our 
Savior  had  rebuked  the  Scotch  Sabbath-keepers  of  that 
period,  by  suffering  his  disciples  to  pluck  corn  on  the  Lord's 
day ;  I  rode  over  the  ground  on  which  the  fainting  multitude 
had  been  fed,  and  they  showed  me  some  massive  fragments 
—  the  relics,  they  said,  of  that  wondrous  banquet,  now  turned 
into  stone.     The  petrifaction  was  most  complete. 

I  ascended  the  height  on  which  our  Lord  was  standing 
when  he  wrought  the  miracle.  The  hill  was  lofty  enough  to 
show  me  the  fairness  of  the  land  on  all  sides,  but  I  have  an 
ancient  love  for  the  mere  features  of  a  lake,  and  so  forgetting 
all  else  when  I  reached  the  summit,  I  looked  away  eagerly  to 
the  eastward.  There  she  lay,  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  Less  stern 
than  Wastwater  —  less  fair  than  gentle  Windermere,  she  had 
still  the  winning  ways  of  an  English  lake ;  she  caught  from 

^  Shereef. 
92 


EOTHEN  93 

the  smiling  heavens  unceasing  light  and  changeful  phases  of 
beauty,  and  with  all  this  brightness  on  her  face,  she  yet  clung 
so  fondly  to  the  dull  he-looking  mountain  at  her  side  as 
though  she  would 

"  Soothe  him  with  her  finer  fancies, 
Touch  him  with  her  lighter  thought."  ^ 

If  one  might  judge  of  men's  real  thoughts  by  their  writ- 
ings, it  would  seem  that  there  are  people  who  can  visit  an 
interesting  locality,  and  follow  up  continuously  the  exact  train 
of  thought  which  ought  to  be  suggested  by  the  historical 
associations  of  the  place.  A  person  of  this  sort  can  go  to 
Athens,  and  think  of  nothing  later  than  the  age  of  Pericles 
—  can  live  with  the  Scipios  as  long  as  he  stays  in  Rome  — 
can  go  up  in  a  balloon,  and  think  how  resplendently  in 
former  times  the  now  vacant  and  desolate  air  was  peopled 
with  angels  —  how  prettily  it  was  crossed  at  intervals  by  the 
rounds  of  Jacob's  ladder !  I  don't  possess  this  power  at  all : 
it  is  only  by  snatches,  and  for  few  moments  together,  that  I 
can  really  associate  a  place  with  its  proper  history. 

"  There  at  Tiberias,  and  along  this  western  shore  towards 
the  North,  and  upon  the  bosom  too  of  the  lake,  our  Savior 
and  his  disciples  —  "  away  flew  those  recollections,  and  my 
mind  strained  eastward,  because  that  that  farthest  shore  was 
the  end  of  the  world  that  belongs  to  man  the  dweller  —  the 
beginning  of  the  other  and  veiled  world  that  is  held  by  the 
strange  race,  whose  life  (like  the  pastime  of  Satan)  is  a 
"going  to  and  fro  upon  the  face  of  the  earth."  From  those 
gray  hills  right  away  to  the  gates  of  Bagdad  stretched  forth 
the  mysterious  "Desert" — not  a  pale,  void,  sandy  tract,  but 
a  land  abounding  in  rich  pastures  —  a  land  without  cities  or 
towns,  without  any  "  respectable  "  people,  or  any  "  respect- 
able things,"  yet  yielding  its  eighty  thousand  cavalry  to  the 
beck  of  a  few  old  men.  But  once  more  —  "  Tiberias  —  the 
plain  of  Gennesareth  —  the  very  earth  on  which  I  stood  — 
that  the  deep,  low  tones  of  the  Savior's  voice  should  have 
gone  forth  into  Eternity  from  out  of  the  midst  of  these  hills, 
and  these  valleys!"  —  Aye,  aye,  but  yet  again  the  calm  face 
of  the  Lake  was  uplifted,  and  smiled  upon  my  eyes  with  such 

1  Tennyson. 


94  KINGLAKE 

familiar  gaze,  that  the  "deep  low  tones"  were  hushed  —  the 
listening  multitudes  all  passed  away,  and  instead  there  came 
to  me  a  dear  old  memory  from  over  the  seas  in  England  —  a 
memory  sweeter  than  veriest  Gospel  to  that  poor,  wilful  mor- 
tal, me. 

I  went  to  Tiberias,  and  soon  got  afloat  upon  the  water.  In 
the  evening  I  took  up  my  quarters  in  the  Catholic  church, 
and,  the  building  being  large  enough,  the  whole  of  my  party 
were  admitted  to  the  benefit  of  the  same  shelter.  With  port- 
manteaus, and  carpetbags,  and  books,  and  maps,  and  fragrant 
tea,  Mysseri  soon  made  me  a  home  on  the  southern  side  of  the 
church.  One  of  old  Shereef's  helpers  was  an  enthusiastic 
Catholic,  and  was  greatly  delighted  at  having  so  sacred  a 
lodging.  He  lit  up  the  altar  with  a  number  of  tapers,  and 
when  his  preparations  were  complete,  he  began  to  perform 
his  orisons  in  the  strangest  manner  imaginable ;  his  lips  mut- 
tered the  prayers  of  the  Latin  Church,  but  he  bowed  himself 
down,  and  laid  his  forehead  to  the  stones  beneath  him,  after 
the  manner  of  a  Mussulman.  The  universal  aptness  of  a 
religious  system  for  all  stages  of  civilization,  and  for  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men,  well  befits  its  claim  of  divine  origin. 
She  is  of  all  nations,  and  of  all  times,  that  wonderful  Church 
of  Rome ! 

Tiberias  is  one  of  the  four  holy  cities,^  according  to  the 
Talmud,  and  it  is  from  this  place,  or  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  it,  that  the  Messiah  is  to  arise. 

Except  at  Jerusalem,  never  think  of  attempting  to  sleep  in 
a  "  holy  city."  Old  Jews  from  all  parts  of  the  world  go  to  lay 
their  bones  upon  the  sacred  soil,  and  as  these  people  never 
return  to  their  homes,  it  follows  that  any  domestic  vermin 
which  they  may  bring  with  them  are  likely  to  become  perma- 
nently resident,  so  that  the  population  is  continually  increas- 
ing. No  recent  census  had  been  taken  when  I  was  at  Tiberias, 
but  I  know  that  the  congregation  of  fleas  which  attended  at 
my  church  alone  must  have  been  something  enormous.  It 
was  a  carnal  self-seeking  congregation,  wholly  inattentive  to 
the  service  which  was  going  on,  and  devoted  to  the  one  ob- 
ject of  having  my  blood.    The  fleas  of  all  nations  were  there. 

^  The  other  three  cities  held  holy  by  Jews  are  Jerusalem,  Hebron,  and 
Safet. 


TIBERIUS  AND    THE   SEA    OF  GALILEE. 

Photogravure  from  a  painting  by  Harry  Fenn. 


EOTHEN  95 

The  smug,  steady,  importunate  flea  from  Holywell  Street  — 
the  pert,  jumping  "puce"  from  hungry  France  —  the  wary, 
watchful  "pulce"  with  his  poisoned  stiletto  —  the  vengeful 
"  pulga  "  of  Castile  with  his  ugly  knife  —  the  German  "floh  " 
with  his  knife  and  fork  —  insatiate  —  not  rising  from  table  — 
whole  swarms  from  all  the  Russias,  and  Asiatic  hordes  un- 
numbered—  all  these  were  there,  and  all  rejoiced  in  one 
great  international  feast.  I  could  no  more  defend  myself 
against  my  enemies,  than  if  I  had  been  "  pain  a  discretion  " 
in  the  hands  of  a  French  patriot,  or  English  gold  in  the  claw^s 
of  a  Pennsylvanian  Quaker.  After  passing  a  night  like  this, 
you  are  glad  to  pick  up  the  wretched  remains  of  your  body, 
long,  long  before  morning  dawns.  Your  skin  is  scorched  — 
your  temples  throb  —  your  lips  feel  withered  and  dried  — 
your  burning  eyeballs  are  screwed  inwards  against  the  brain. 
You  have  no  hope  but  only  in  the  saddle  and  the  freshness 
of  the  morning  air. 


CHAPTER   XII 

Afy  First  Bivouac 

THE  course  of  the  Jordan  is  from  the  north  to  the  south, 
and  in  that  direction,  with  very  little  of  devious  wind- 
ing, it  carries  the  shining  waters  of  Galilee  straight 
down  into  the  solitudes  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Speaking  roughly, 
the  river  in  that  meridian  is  a  boundary  between  the  people 
living  under  roofs,  and  the  tented  tribes  that  wander  on  the 
farther  side.  And  so,  as  I  went  down  in  my  way  from  Ti- 
berias towards  Jerusalem,  along  the  western  bank  of  the 
stream,  my  thinking  all  propended  to  the  ancient  world  of 
herdsmen,  and  warriors,  that  lay  so  close  over  my  bridle-arm. 
If  a  man,  and  an  Englishman,  be  not  born  of  his  mother 
with  a  natural  Chiffney-bit  in  his  mouth,  there  comes  to  him 
a  time  for  loathing  the  wearisome  ways  of  society  —  a  time 
for  not  liking  tamed  people  —  a  time  for  not  dancing  qua- 
drilles—  not  sitting  in  pews  —  a  time  for  pretending  that  Mil- 
ton, and  Shelley,  and  all  sorts  of  mere  dead  people,  were 
greater  in  death  than  the  first  living  Lord  of  the  Treasury  — 
a  time  in  short  for  scoffing  and  railing  —  for  speaking  lightly 
of  the  very  opera,  and  all  our  most  cherished  institutions. 
It  is  from  nineteen,  to  two  or  three  and  twenty  perhaps,  that 
this  war  of  the  man  against  men  is  like  to  be  waged  most 
sullenly.  You  are  yet  in  this  smiling  England,  but  you  find 
yourself  wending  away  to  the  dark  sides  of  her  mountains, 
—  climbing  the  dizzy  crags,  —  exulting  in  the  fellowship  of 
mists  and  clouds,  and  watching  the  storms  how  they  gather, 
or  proving  the  mettle  of  your  mare  upon  the  broad  and 
dreary  downs,  because  that  you  feel  congenially  with  the  yet 
unparceled  earth.  A  little  while  you  are  free,  and  unlabeled, 
like  the  ground  that  you  compass,  but  Civilization  is  coming, 
and  coming ;  you  and  your  much-loved  waste  lands  will  be 
surely  enclosed,  and  sooner  or  later  you  will  be  brought  down 
to  a  state  of  utter  usefulness — the  ground  will  be  curiously 

96 


EOTHEN  97 

sliced  into  acres,  and  roods,  and  perches,  and  you,  for  all  you  sit 
so  smartly  in  your  saddle,  you  will  be  caught — you  will  be 
taken  up  from  travel,  as  a  colt  from  grass,  to  be  trained,  and 
tired,  and  matched,  and  run.  All  this  in  time,  but  first  come 
continental  tours,  and  the  moody  longing  for  Eastern  travel ; 
the  downs  and  the  moors  of  England  can  hold  you  no  longer ; 
with  larger  stride  you  burst  away  from  these  slips  and  patches 
of  free  land  —  you  thread  your  path  through  the  crowds  of 
Europe,  and  at  last  on  the  banks  of  Jordan  you  joyfully 
know  that  you  are  upon  the  very  frontier  of  all  accustomed 
respectabilities.  There,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  (you 
can  swim  it  with  one  arm),  there  reigns  the  people  that  will 
be  like  to  put  you  to  death  for  not  being  a  vagrant,  for  not 
being  a  robber,  for  not  being  armed  and  houseless.  There 
is  comfort  in  that  —  health,  comfort,  and  strength  to  one  who 
is  dying  from  very  weariness  of  that  poor,  dear,  middle-aged, 
deserving,  accomplished,  pedantic,  and  painstaking  govern- 
ess Europe. 

I  had  ridden  for  some  hours  along  the  right  bank  of  Jor- 
dan, when  I  came  to  the  Djesr  el  Medjame  (an  old  Roman 
bridge,  I  believe),  which  crossed  the  river.  My  Nazarene 
guide  was  riding  ahead  of  the  party,  and  now,  to  my  surprise 
and  delight,  he  turned  leftwards,  and  led  on  over  the  bridge. 
I  knew  that  the  true  road  to  Jerusalem  must  be  mainly  by 
the  right  bank  of  Jordan,  but  I  supposed  that  my  guide  was 
crossing  the  bridge  at  this  spot  in  order  to  avoid  some  bend 
in  the  river,  and  that  he  knew  of  a  ford  lower  down  by  which 
we  should  regain  the  western  bank.  I  made  no  question 
about  the  road,  for  I  was  but  too  glad  to  set  my  horse's  hoofs 
upon  the  land  of  the  wandering  tribes.  None  of  my  party, 
except  the  Nazarene,  knew  the  country.  On  we  went  through 
rich  pastures  upon  the  eastern  side  of  the  water.  I  looked 
for  the  expected  bend  of  the  river,  but  far  as  I  could  see 
it  kept  a  straight  southerly  course  ;  I  still  left  my  guide  un- 
questioned. 

The  Jordan  is  not  a  perfectly  accurate  boundary  betwixt 
roofs  and  tents,  for  soon  after  passing  the  bridge  I  came 
upon  a  cluster  of  huts.  Some  time  afterwards  the  guide, 
upon  being  closely  questioned  by  my  servants,  confessed  that 
the  village  which  we  had  left  behind  was  the  last  that  we 


98  KINGLAKE 

should  see,  but  he  declared  that  he  knew  a  spot  at  which  we 
should  find  an  encampment  of  friendly  Bedouins,  who  would 
receive  me  with  all  hospitality.  I  had  long  determined  not 
to  leave  the  East  without  seeing  something  of  the  wandering 
tribes,  but  I  had  looked  forward  to  this  as  a  pleasure  to  be 
found  in  the  desert  between  El  Arish  and  Egypt  —  I  had 
no  idea  that  the  Bedouins  on  the  east  of  Jordan  were  ac- 
cessible. My  delight  was  so  great  at  the  near  prospect  of 
bread  and  salt  in  the  tent  of  an  Arab  warrior,  that  I  wilfully 
allowed  my  guide  to  go  on  and  mislead  me ;  I  saw  that  he 
was  taking  me  out  of  the  straight  route  towards  Jerusalem, 
and  was  drawing  me  into  the  midst  of  the  Bedouins,  but  the 
idea  of  his  betraying  me  seemed  (I  know  not  why)  so  utterly 
absurd,  that  I  could  not  entertain  it  for  a  moment ;  I  fancied 
it  possible  that  the  fellow  had  taken  me  out  of  my  route  in 
order  to  attempt  some  little  mercantile  enterprise  with  the 
tribe  for  which  he  was  seeking,  and  I  was  glad  of  the  oppor- 
tunity which  I  might  thus  gain  of  coming  in  contact  with  the 
wanderers. 

Not  long  after  passing  the  village,  a  horseman  met  us ;  it 
appeared  that  some  of  the  cavalry  of  Ibrahim  Pasha  had 
crossed  the  river  for  the  sake  of  the  rich  pastures  on  the  east- 
ern bank,  and  that  this  man  was  one  of  the  troopers ;  he 
stopped  and  saluted ;  he  was  obviously  surprised  at  meeting 
an  unarmed,  or  half-armed,  cavalcade,  and  at  last  fairly  told 
us  that  we  were  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  river,  and  that  if 
we  proceeded  we  must  lay  our  account  with  falling  amongst 
robbers.  All  this  while,  and  throughout  the  day,  my  Naza- 
rene  kept  well  ahead  of  the  party,  and  was  constantly  up  in 
his  stirrups,  straining  forward,  and  searching  the  distance  for 
some  objects  which  still  remained  unseen. 

For  the  rest  of  the  day  we  saw  no  human  being  ;  we  pushed 
on  eagerly  in  the  hope  of  coming  up  with  the  Bedouins  before 
nightfall.  Night  came,  and  we  still  went  on  in  our  way  till 
about  ten  o'clock.  Then  the  thorough  darkness  of  the  night 
and  the  weariness  of  our  beasts  (which  had  already  done  two 
good  days'  journey  in  one)  forced  us  to  determine  upon  com- 
ing to  a  standstill.  Upon  the  heights  to  the  eastward  we 
saw  lights  ;  these  shone  from  caves  on  the  mountainside,  in- 
habited, as  the  Nazarene  told  us,  by  rascals  of  a  low  sort  — 


EOTHEN  99 

not  real  Bedouins  —  men  whom  we  might  frighten  into  harm- 
lessness,  but  from  whom  there  was  no  wilHng  hospitahty  to 
be  expected. 

We  heard  at  a  little  distance  the  brawling  of  a  rivulet,  and 
on  the  banks  of  this  it  was  determined  to  establish  our  bivouac ; 
we  soon  found  the  stream,  and  following  its  course  for  a  few 
yards  came  to  a  spot  which  was  thought  to  be  fit  for  our  pur- 
pose. It  was  a  sharply  cold  night  in  February,  and  when  I 
dismounted  I  found  myself  standing  upon  some  wet,  rank 
herbage,  that  promised  ill  for  the  comfort  of  our  resting- 
place.  I  had  bad  hopes  of  a  fire,  for  the  pitchy  darkness  of 
the  night  was  a  great  obstacle  to  any  successful  search  for 
fuel,  and  besides,  the  boughs  of  trees  or  bushes  would  be  so 
full  of  sap  in  this  early  spring  that  they  would  not  be  easily 
persuaded  to  burn.  However,  we  were  not  likely  to  sub- 
mit to  a  dark  and  cold  bivouac  without  an  effort,  and  my  fel- 
lows groped  forward  through  the  darkness,  till  after  advancing 
a  few  paces  they  were  happily  stopped  by  a  complete  barrier 
of  dead  prickly  bushes.  Before  our  swords  could  be  drawn 
to  reap  this  glorious  harvest,  it  was  found,  to  our  surprise, 
that  the  precious  fuel  was  already  hewn,  and  strewed  along 
the  ground  in  a  thick  mass.  A  spot  fit  for  the  fire  was  found 
with  some  difficulty,  for  the  earth  was  moist,  and  the  grass 
high  and  rank.  At  last  there  was  a  clicking  of  flint  and  steel, 
and  presently  there  stood  out  from  darkness  one  of  the  tawny 
faces  of  my  muleteers,  bent  down  to  near  the  ground,  and 
suddenly  lit  up  by  the  glowing  of  the  spark,  which  he  courted 
with  careful  breath.  Before  long  there  was  a  particle  of  dry 
fiber,  or  leaf,  that  kindled  to  a  tiny  flame ;  then  another  was 
lit  from  that,  and  then  another.  Then  small,  crisp  twigs, 
little  bigger  than  bodkins,  were  laid  athwart  the  growing  fire. 
The  swelling  cheeks  of  the  muleteer,  laid  level  with  the  earth, 
blew  tenderly  at  first,  and  then  more  boldly,  upon  the  young 
flame,  which  was  daintily  nursed  and  fed,  and  fed  more  plenti- 
fully when  it  gained  good  strength.  At  last  a  whole  armful 
of  dry  bushes  was  piled  up  over  the  fire,  and  presently  with 
loud,  cheery  cracking  and  crackling,  a  royal  tall  blaze  shot 
up  from  the  earth,  and  showed  me  once  more  the  shapes  and 
faces  of  my  men,  and  the  dim  outlines  of  the  horses  and  mules 
that  stood  grazing  hard  by. 


lOO  KINGLAKE 

My  servants  busied  themselves  in  unpacking  the  baggage, 
as  though  we  had  arrived  at  a  hotel  —  Shereef  and  his 
helpers  unsaddled  their  cattle.  We  had  left  Tiberias  without 
the  slightest  idea  that  we  were  to  make  our  way  to  Jerusalem 
along  the  desolate  side  of  the  Jordan,  and  my  servants  (gener- 
ally provident  in  those  matters)  had  brought  with  them  only, 
I  think,  some  unleavened  bread,  and  a  rocky  fragment  of 
goat's-milk  cheese.  These  treasures  were  produced.  Tea, 
and  the  contrivances  for  making  it,  were  always  a  standing 
part  of  my  baggage.  My  men  gathered  in  circle  around  the 
fire.  The  Nazarene  was  in  a  false  position,  from  having  mis- 
led us  so  strangely,  and  he  would  have  shrunk  back,  poor 
devil,  into  the  cold  and  outer  darkness,  but  I  made  him  draw 
near  and  share  the  luxuries  of  the  night.  My  quilt  and  my 
pelisse  were  spread,  and  the  rest  of  my  party  had  all  their 
capotes,  or  pelisses,  or  robes  of  some  sort,  which  furnished 
their  couches.  The  men  gathered  in  circle,  some  kneeling, 
some  sitting,  some  lying  reclined  around  our  common  hearth. 
Sometimes  on  one,  sometimes  on  another,  the  flickering  light 
would  glare  more  fiercely.  Sometimes  it  was  the  good 
Shereef  that  seemed  the  foremost,  as  he  sat  with  vener- 
able beard,  the  image  of  manly  piety  —  unknowing  of  all 
geography,  unknowing  where  he  was,  or  whither  he  might 
go,  but  trusting  in  the  goodness  of  God,  and  the  clenching 
power  of  fate,  and  the  good  star  of  the  Englishman. 
Sometimes,  like  marble,  the  classic  face  of  the  Greek 
Mysseri  would  catch  the  sudden  light,  and  then  again  by 
turns  the  ever-perturbed  Dthemetri,  with  his  odd  Chinaman's 
eyes,  and  bristling,  terrier-like  mustache,  shone  forth  illus- 
trious. 

I  always  liked  the  men  who  attended  me  on  these  Eastern 
travels,  for  they  were  all  of  them  brave,  cheery-hearted  fel- 
lows, and  although  their  following  my  career  brought  upon 
them  a  pretty  large  share  of  those  toils  and  hardships  which 
are  so  much  more  amusing  to  gentlemen  than  to  servants, 
yet  not  one  of  them  ever  uttered  or  hinted  a  syllable  of  com- 
plaint or  even  affected  to  put  on  an  air  of  resignation ;  I 
always  liked  them,  but  never  perhaps  so  much  as  when  they 
were  thus  grouped  together  under  the  light  of  the  bivouac 
fire.     I  felt  towards  them  as  my  comrades,  rather  than  as  my 


EOTHEN  lOI 

servants,  and  took  delight  in  breaking  bread  with  them,  and 
merely  passing  the  cup. 

The  love  of  tea  is  a  glad  source  of  fellow-feeling  between 
the  Englishman  and  the  Asiatic ;  in  Persia  it  is  drunk  by  all, 
and  although  it  is  a  luxury  that  is  rarely  within  the  reach  of 
the  Osmanlees,  there  are  few  of  them  who  do  not  know  and 
love  the  blessed  "  tchai."  Our  camp-kettle  filled  from  the 
brook  hummed  doubtfully  for  a  while  —  then  busily  bubbled 
under  the  sidelong  glare  of  the  flames  —  cups  clinked  and 
rattled — the  fragrant  steam  ascended,  and  soon  this  little 
circlet  in  the  wilderness  grew  warm  and  genial  as  my  lady's 
drawing-room. 

And  after  this  there  came  the  tchibouque  —  great  comforter 
of  those  that  are  hungry  and  wayworn.  And  it  has  this  vir- 
tue —  it  helps  to  destroy  the  gene  and  awkwardness  which 
one  sometimes  feels  at  being  in  company  with  one's  depend- 
ents ;  for  whilst  the  amber  is  at  your  lips,  there  is  nothing 
ungracious  in  your  remaining  silent,  or  speaking  pithily  in 
short  inter-whiff  sentences.  And  for  us  that  night  there  was 
pleasant  and  plentiful  matter  of  talk ;  for  the  where  we  should 
be  on  the  morrow,  and  the  wherewithal  we  should  be  fed  — 
whether  by  some  ford  we  should  regain  the  western  banks  of 
Jordan,  or  find  bread  and  salt  under  the  tents  of  a  wandering 
tribe,  or  whether  we  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Philis- 
tines, and  so  come  to  see  Death  —  the  last,  and  greatest  of 
all  "the  fine  sights  "  that  there  be  —  these  were  questionings 
not  dull  nor  wearisome  to  us,  for  we  were  all  concerned  in 
the  answers.  And  it  was  not  an  ill-imagined  morrow  that  we 
probed  with  our  sharp  guesses,  for  the  lights  of  those  low 
Philistines,  the  men  of  the  caves,  still  hung  over  our  heads, 
and  we  knew  by  their  yells  that  the  fire  of  our  bivouac  had 
shown  us. 

At  length  we  thought  it  well  to  seek  for  sleep.  Our  plans 
were  laid  for  keeping  up  a  good  watch  through  the  night. 
My  quilt  and  my  pelisse  and  my  cloak  were  spread  out  so 
that  I  might  lie  spokewise,  with  my  feet  towards  the  central 
fire.  I  wrapped  my  limbs  daintily  round,  and  gave  myself 
positive  orders  to  sleep  like  a  veteran  soldier.  But  I  found 
that  my  attempt  to  sleep  upon  the  earth  that  God  gave  me 
was   more   new  and  strano:e  than  I  had  fancied  it.     I  had 


I02  KINGLAKE 

grown  used  to  the  scene  which  was  before  me  whilst  I  was 
sitting  or  recKning  by  the  side  of  the  fire,  but  now  that  I  laid 
myself  down  at  length,  it  was  the  deep  black  mystery  of  the 
heavens  that  hung  over  my  eyes  —  not  an  earthly  thing  in  the 
way  from  my  own  very  forehead  right  up  to  the  end  of  all 
space.  I  grew  proud  of  my  boundless  bedchamber.  I  might 
have  "  found  sermons  "  in  all  this  greatness  (if  I  had,  I  should 
surely  have  slept),  but  such  was  not  then  my  way.  If  this 
cherished  Self  of  mine  had  built  the  Universe,  I  should  have 
dwelt  with  delight  on  the  "  wonders  of  creation."  As  it  was, 
I  felt  rather  the  vainglory  of  my  promotion  from  out  of  mere 
rooms  and  houses  into  the  midst  of  that  grand,  dark,  infinite 
palace. 

And  then,  too,  my  head,  far  from  the  fire,  was  in  cold  lati- 
tudes, and  it  seemed  to  me  strange  that  I  should  be  lying  so 
still,  and  passive,  whilst  the  sharp  night-breeze  walked  free 
over  my  cheek,  an-d  the  cold  damp  clung  to  my  hair,  as  though 
my  face  grew  in  the  earth,  and  must  bear  with  the  footsteps 
of  the  wind,  and  the  falling  of  the  dew,  as  meekly  as  the  grass 
of  the  field.  Besides,  I  got  puzzled  and  distracted  by  having 
to  endure  heat  and  cold  at  the  same  time,  for  I  was  always 
considering  whether  my  feet  were  not  over-deviled,  and 
whether  my  face  was  not  too  well  iced.  And  so  when  from 
time  to  time  the  watch  quietly  and  gently  kept  up  the  lan- 
guishing fire,  he  seldom,  I  think,  was  unseen  to  my  restless 
eyes.  Yet,  at  last,  when  they  called  me,  and  said  that  the 
morn  would  soon  be  dawning,  I  rose  from  a  state  of  half- 
oblivion,  not  much  unlike  to  sleep,  though  sharply  qualified 
by  a  sort  of  vegetable's  consciousness  of  having  been  growing 
still  colder  and  colder,  for  many  and  many  an  hour. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

The  Dead  Sea 

THE  gray  light  of  the  morning  showed  us  for  the  first 
time  the  ground  which  we  had  chosen  for  our  resting- 
place.  We  found  that  we  had  bivouacked  upon  a 
little  patch  of  barley,  plainly  belonging  to  the  men  of  the 
caves.  The  dead  bushes  which  we  found  so  happily  placed 
in  readiness  for  our  fire  had  been  strewn  as  a  fence  for  the 
protection  of  the  little  crop.  This  was  the  only  cultivated 
spot  of  ground  which  we  had  seen  for  many  a  league,  and 
I  was  rather  sorry  to  find  that  our  night  fire  and  our  cattle 
had  spread  so  much  ruin  upon  this  poor  solitary  slip  of  corn- 
land. 

The  saddling  and  loading  of  our  beasts  was  a  work  which 
generally  took  nearly  an  hour,  and  before  this  was  half  over 
daylight  came.  We  could  now  see  the  men  of  the  caves. 
They  collected  in  a  body,  amounting,  I  should  think,  to  nearly 
fifty,  and  rushed  down  towards  our  quarters  with  fierce  shouts 
and  yells.  But  the  nearer  they  came,  the  slower  they  went ; 
their  shouts  grew  less  resolute  in  tone,  and  soon  ceased  alto- 
gether. The  fellows  advanced  to  a  thicket  within  thirty  yards 
of  us,  and  behind  this  "took  up  their  position."  My  men  with- 
out premeditation  did  exactly  that  which  was  best :  they  kept 
steadily  to  their  work  of  loading  the  beasts  without  fuss,  or 
hurry,  and  whether  it  was  that  they  instinctively  felt  the  wisdom 
of  keeping  quiet,  or  that  they  merely  obeyed  the  natural  incli- 
nation to  silence  which  one  feels  in  the  early  morning  —  I  can- 
not tell,  but  I  know  that  except  when  they  exchanged  a  syllable 
or  two  relative  to  the  work  they  were  about,  not  a  word  was 
said.  I  now  believe  that  this  quietness  of  our  party  created 
an  undefined  terror  in  the  minds  of  the  cave-holders,  and  scared 
them  from  coming  on :  it  gave  them  a  notion  that  we  were 
relying  on  some  resources  which  they  knew  not  of.     Several 

103 


104  KINGLAKE 

times  the  fellows  tried  to  lash  themselves  into  a  state  of  excite- 
ment which  might  do  instead  of  pluck.  They  would  raise  a 
great  shout,  and  sway  forward  in  a  dense  body  from  behind 
the  thicket ;  but  when  they  saw  that  their  bravery,  thus  gath- 
ered to  a  head,  did  not  even  suspend  the  strapping  of  a  port- 
manteau, or  the  tying  of  a  hat-box,  their  shout  lost  its  spirit, 
and  the  whole  mass  was  irresistibly  drawn  back  like  a  wave 
receding  from  the  shore. 

These  attempts  at  an  onset  were  repeated  several  times,  but 
always  with  the  same  result;  I  remained  under  the  apprehen- 
sion of  an  attack  for  more  than  half  an  hour,  and  it  seemed  to 
me  that  the  work  of  packing  and  loading  had  never  been  done 
so  slowly.  I  felt  inclined  to  tell  my  fellows  to  make  their  best 
speed,  but  just  as  I  was  going  to  speak,  I  observed  that  every 
one  was  doing  his  duty  already ;  I  therefore  held  my  peace,  and 
said  not  a  word,  till  at  last  Mysseri  led  up  my  horse,  and  asked 
me  if  I  were  ready  to  mount. 

We  all  marched  off  without  hindrance. 

After  some  time,  we  came  across  a  party  of  Ibrahim's  cav- 
alry, which  had  bivouacked  at  no  great  distance  from  us. 
The  knowledge  that  such  a  force  was  in  the  neighborhood 
may  have  conduced  to  the  forbearance  of  the  cave-holders. 

We  saw  a  scraggy-looking  fellow,  nearly  black,  and  wearing 
nothing  but  a  cloth  round  the  loins ;  he  was  tending  flocks. 
Afterwards  I  came  up  with  another  of  these  goatherds,  whose 
'helpmate  was  with  him.  They  gave  us  some  goat's-milk,  a 
welcome  present.  I  pitied  the  poor  devil  of  a  goatherd  for 
having  such  a  very  plain  wife.  I  spent  an  enormous  quantity 
of  pity  upon  that  particular  form  of  human  misery. 

About  midday  I  began  to  examine  my  map,  and  to  question 
my  guide,  who  at  last  fell  on  his  knees  and  confessed  that  he 
knew  nothing  of  the  country  in  which  we  were.  I  was  thus 
thrown  upon  my  own  resources,  and  calculating  that  on  the 
preceding  day  we  had  performed  nearly  a  two  days'  journey, 
I  concluded  that  the  Dead  Sea  must  be  near.  In  this  I  was 
right,  for  at  about  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  I 
caught  a  first  sight  of  its  dismal  face. 

I  went  on,  and  came  near  to  those  waters  of  Death ;  they 
stretched  deeply  into  the  southern  desert,  and  before  me,  and 
all  around,  as  far  away  as  the  eye  could  follow,  blank  hills 


EOTHEN  105 

piled  high  over  hills,  pale,  yellow,  and  naked,  walled  up  in 
her  tomb  forever  the  dead  and  damned  Gomorrah.  There 
was  no  fly  that  hummed  in  the  forbidden  air,  but  instead  a 
deep  stillness  —  no  grass  grew  from  the  earth  —  no  weed 
peered  through  the  void  sand,  but  in  mockery  of  all  life  there 
were  trees  borne  down  by  Jordan  in  some  ancient  flood,  and 
these  grotesquely  planted  upon  the  forlorn  shore,  spread  out 
their  grim  skeleton  arms  all  scorched,  and  charred  to  black- 
ness, by  the  heats  of  the  long,  silent  years. 

I  now  struck  off  towards  the  debouchure  of  the  river ;  but  I 
found  that  the  country,  though  seemingly  quite  flat,  was  inter- 
sected by  deep  ravines,  which  did  not  show  themselves  until 
nearly  approached.  For  some  time  my  progress  was  much 
obstructed  ;  but  at  last  I  came  across  a  track  which  led  towards 
the  river,  and  which  might,  as  I  hoped,  bring  me  to  a  ford.  I 
found,  in  fact,  when  I  came  to  the  river's  side,  that  the  track 
reappeared  upon  the  opposite  banks,  plainly  showing  that  the 
stream  had  been  fordable  at  this  place.  Now,  however,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  late  rains,  the  river  was  quite  impracticable  for 
baggage  horses.  A  body  of  waters,  about  equal  to  the  Thames 
at  Eton,  but  confined  to  a  narrower  channel,  poured  down  in  a 
current  so  swift  and  heavy  that  the  idea  of  passing  with  laden 
baggage  horses  was  utterly  forbidden.  I  could  have  swum 
across  myself,  and  I  might,  perhaps,  have  succeeded  in  swim- 
ming a  horse  over.  But  this  would  have  been  useless,  because 
in  such  case  I  must  have  abandoned,  not  only  my  baggage,  but 
all  my  attendants,  for  none  of  them  were  able  to  swim,  and 
without  that  resource,  it  would  have  been  madness  for  them  to 
rely  upon  the  swimming  of  their  beasts  across  such  a  power- 
ful stream.  I  still  hoped,  however,  that  there  might  be  a 
chance  of  passing  the  river  at  the  point  of  its  actual  junction 
with  the  Dead  Sea,  and  I  therefore  went  on  in  that  direction. 

Night  came  upon  us  whilst  laboring  across  gullies,  and  sandy 
mounds,  and  we  were  obliged  to  come  to  a  standstill  quite  sud- 
denly, upon  the  very  edge  of  a  precipitous  descent.  Every  step 
towards  the  Dead  Sea  had  brought  us  into  a  country  more 
and  more  dreary ;  and  this  sand-hill,  which  we  were  forced  to 
choose  for  our  resting-place,  was  dismal  enough.  A  few 
slender  blades  of  grass,  which  here  and  there  singly  pierced 
the  sand,  mocked  bitterly  the  hunger  of  our  jaded  beasts,  and 


I06  KINGLAKE 

with  our  small  remaining  fragment  of  goat's-milk  rock,  by 
way  of  supper  we  were  not  much  better  off  than  our  horses ; 
we  wanted,  too,  the  great  requisite  of  a  cheery  bivouac  — 
fire.  Moreover,  the  spot  on  which  we  had  been  so  suddenly 
brought  to  a  standstill  was  relatively  high  and  unsheltered, 
and  the  night-wind  blew  swiftly  and  cold. 

The  next  morning  I  reached  the  debouchure  of  the  Jordan, 
where  I  had  hoped  to  find  a  bar  of  sand  that  might  render  its 
passage  possible.  The  river,  however,  rolled  its  eddying  waters 
fast  down  to  the  "sea,"  in  a  strong  deep  stream  that  shut  out 
all  hope  of  crossing.  It  was  always  said  that  no  vegetation 
could  live  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Dead  Sea,  but  now  I 
began  to  look  upon  my  party  and  myself  as  forming  a  very 
fine  "  plantation " ;  for  never  in  the  hunting  sense  of  the 
term  were  men  more  thoroughly  "planted." 

It  now  seemed  necessary  either  to  construct  a  raft  of  some 
kind,  or  else  to  retrace  my  steps,  and  remount  the  banks  of 
the  Jordan.  I  had  once  happened  to  give  some  attention  to 
the  subject  of  military  bridges  —  a  branch  of  military  science 
which  includes  the  construction  of  rafts,  and  contrivances  of 
the  like  sort,  and  I  should  have  been  very  proud,  indeed,  if  I 
could  have  carried  my  party  and  my  baggage  across  by  dint 
of  any  idea  gathered  from  Sir  Howard  Douglas  or  Robinson 
Crusoe.  But  we  were  all  faint  and  languid  from  want  of 
food,  and  besides  there  were  no  materials.  Higher  up  the 
river  there  were  bushes  and  river-plants,  but  nothing  like 
timber,  and  the  cord  with  which  my  baggage  was  tied  to  the 
pack-saddles  amounted  altogether  to  a  very  small  quantity  — 
not  nearly  enough  to  haul  any  sort  of  craft  across  the  stream. 

And  now  it  was,  if  I  remember  rightly,  that  Dthemetri  sub- 
mitted to  me  a  plan  for  putting  to  death  the  Nazarene,  whose 
misguidance  had  been  the  cause  of  our  difficulties.  There 
was  something  fascinating  in  this  suggestion,  for  the  slaying 
of  the  guide  was  of  course  easy  enough,  and  would  look  like 
an  act  of  what  politicians  call  "vigor."  If  it  were  only  to 
become  known  to  my  friends  in  England  that  I  had  calmly 
killed  a  fellow-creature  for  taking  me  out  of  my  way,  I  might 
remain  perfectly  quiet  and  tranquil  for  all  the  rest  of  my  days, 
quite  free  from  the  danger  of  being  considered  "  slow ";  I 
might  ever  after  live  on  upon  my  reputation  like  "  single-speech 


EOTHEN  107 

Hamilton"  in  the  last  century,  or  "single-sin  "  in  this, 

without  being  obliged  to  take  the  trouble  of  doing  any  more 
harm  in  the  world.  This  was  a  great  temptation  to  an  indo- 
lent person,  but  the  motive  was  not  strengthened  by  any  sin- 
cere feeling  of  anger  with  the  Nazarene.  Whilst  the  question 
of  his  life  and  death  was  debated,  he  was  riding  in  front  of 
our  party,  and  there  was  something  in  the  anxious  writhing 
of  his  supple  limbs  that  seemed  to  express  a  sense  of  his  false 
position,  and  struck  me  as  highly  comic ;  I  had  no  crotchet 
at  that  time  against  the  punishment  of  the  death,  but  I  was 
unused  to  blood,  and  the  proposed  victim  looked  so  thoroughly 
capable  of  enjoying  life  (if  he  could  only  get  to  the  other  side 
of  the  river),  that  I  thought  it  would  be  hard  for  him  to  die, 
merely  in  order  to  give  me  a  character  for  energy.  Acting 
on  the  result  of  these  considerations,  and  reserving  to  my- 
self a  free  and  unfettered  discretion  to  have  the  poor  villain 
shot  at  any  future  moment,  I  magnanimously  decided  that 
for  the  present  he  should  live,  and  not  die. 

I  bathed  in  the  Dead  Sea.  The  ground  covered  by  the 
water  sloped  so  gradually,  that  I  was  not  only  forced  to 
"  sneak  in,"  but  to  walk  through  the  water  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  before  I  could  get  out  of  my  depth.  When  at  last 
I  was  able  to  attempt  a  dive,  the  salts  held  in  solution  made 
my  eyes  smart  so  sharply  that  the  pain  which  I  thus  suffered, 
acceding  to  the  weakness  occasioned  by  want  of  food,  made 
me  giddy  and  faint  for  some  moments,  but  I  soon  grew  bet- 
ter. I  knew  beforehand  the  impossibility  of  sinking  in  this 
buoyant  water,  but  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  I  could  not 
swim  at  my  accustomed  pace ;  my  legs  and  feet  were  lifted 
so  high  and  dry  out  of  the  lake  that  my  stroke  was  baffled, 
and  I  found  myself  kicking  against  the  thin  air,  instead  of 
the  dense  fluid  upon  which  I  was  swimming.  The  water  is 
perfectly  bright  and  clear,  its  taste  detestable.  After  finish- 
ing my  attempts  at  swimming  and  diving,  I  took  some  time 
in  regaining  the  shore,  and  before  I  began  to  dress,  I  found 
that  the  sun  had  already  evaporated  the  water  which  clung 
to  me,  and  that  my  skin  was  thickly  encrusted  with  sulphate 
of  magnesia. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

The  Black  Tents 

Y  steps  were  reluctantly  turned  towards  the  north.  I 
had  ridden  some  way  and  still  it  seemed  that  all  life 
was  fenced  and  barred  out  from  the  desolate  ground 
over  which  I  was  journeying.  On  the  west  there  flowed  the 
impassable  Jordan ;  on  the  east  stood  an  endless  range  of 
barren  mountains,  and  on  the  south  lay  that  desert  sea  that 
knew  not  the  plashing  of  an  oar;  greatly,  therefore,  was  I 
surprised  when  suddenly  there  broke  upon  my  ear  the  long, 
ludicrous,  persevering  bray  of  a  living  donkey.  I  was  riding 
at  this  time  some  few  hundred  yards  ahead  of  all  my  party, 
except  the  Nazarene  (who  by  a  wise  instinct  kept  closer  to 
me  than  to  Dthemetri),  and  I  instantly  went  forward  in  the 
direction  of  the  sound,  for  I  fancied  that  where  there  were 
donkeys,  there  too  most  surely  would  be  men.  The  ground 
on  all  sides  of  me  seemed  thoroughly  void  and  lifeless,  but 
at  last  I  got  down  into  a  hollow,  and  presently  a  sudden  turn 
brought  me  within  thirty  yards  of  an  Arab  encampment. 
The  low  black  tents  which  I  had  so  long  lusted  to  see  were 
right  before  me,  and  they  were  all  teeming  with  live  Arabs 
—  men,  women,  and  children. 

I  wished  to  have  let  my  party  behind  know  where  I  was, 
but  I  recollected  that  they  would  be  able  to  trace  me  by  the 
prints  of  my  horse's  hoofs  in  the  sand,  and  having  to  do  with 
Asiatics,  I  felt  the  danger  of  the  slightest  movement  which 
might  be  looked  upon  as  a  sign  of  irresolution.  Therefore, 
without  looking  behind  me  —  without  looking  to  the  right  or 
to  the  left,  I  rode  straight  up  towards  the  foremost  tent. 
Before  this  was  strewn  a  semicircular  fence  of  dead  boughs, 
through  which  there  was  an  opening  opposite  to  the  front  of 
the  tent.  As  I  advanced,  some  twenty  or  thirty  of  the  most 
uncouth-looking  fellows  imaginable   came  forward  to    meet 

io8 


EOTHEN  109 

me.  In  their  appearance  they  showed  nothing  of  the  Bed- 
ouin blood ;  they  were  of  many  colors,  from  dingy  brown 
to  jet  black,  and  some  of  these  last  had  much  of  the  negro 
look  about  them.  They  were  tall,  powerful  fellows,  but 
awfully  ugly.  They  wore  nothing  but  the  Arab  shirts,  con- 
fined at  the  waist  by  leathern  belts. 

I  advanced  to  the  gap  left  in  the  fence,  and  at  once  alighted 
from  my  horse.  The  chief  greeted  me  after  his  fashion  by 
alternately  touching  first  my  hand  and  then  his  own  forehead, 
as  if  he  were  conveying  the  virtue  of  the  touch  like  a  spark  of 
electricity.  Presently  I  found  myself  seated  upon  a  sheep- 
skin, which  was  spread  for  me  under  the  sacred  shade  of 
Arabian  canvas.  The  tent  was  of  a  long,  narrow,  oblong 
form,  and  contained  a  quantity  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
so  closely  huddled  together,  that  there  was  scarcely  one  of 
them  who  was  not  in  actual  contact  with  his  neighbor.  The 
moment  I  had  taken  my  seat  the  chief  repeated  his  salutations 
in  the  most  enthusiastic  manner,  and  then  the  people,  having 
gathered  densely  about  me,  got  hold  of  my  unresisting  hand, 
and  passed  it  round  like  a  claret  jug  for  the  benefit  of  every- 
body. The  women  soon  brought  me  a  wooden  bowl  full  of 
buttermilk,  and  welcome  indeed  came  the  gift  to  my  hungry 
and  thirsty  soul. 

After  some  time  my  party,  as  I  had  expected,  came  up,  and 
when  poor  Dthemetri  saw  me  on  my  sheepskin,  "  the  life  and 
soul "  of  this  Tagamuffin  party,  he  was  so  astounded  that  he 
even  failed  to  check  his  cry  of  horror;  he  plainly  thought 
that  now,  at  last,  the  Lord  had  delivered  me  (interpreter  and 
all)  into  the  hands  of  the  lowest  Philistines. 

Mysseri  carried  a  tobacco-pouch  slung  at  his  belt,  and  as 
soon  as  its  contents  were  known,  the  whole  population  of  the 
tent  began  begging  like  spaniels  for  bits  of  the  beloved  weed. 
I  concluded  from  the  abject  manner  of  these  people,  that  they 
could  not  possibly  be  thoroughbred  Bedouins,  and  I  saw,  too, 
that  they  must  be  in  the  very  last  stage  of  misery,  for  poor 
indeed  is  the  man  in  these  climes  who  cannot  command  a 
pipeful  of  tobacco.  I  began  to  think  that  I  had  fallen 
amongst  thorough  savages,  and  it  seemed  likely  enough  that 
they  would  gain  their  very  first  knowledge  of  civilization  by 
ravishing  and    studying   the    contents    of   my  dearest  port- 


no  KINGLAKE 

manteaus,  but  still  my  impression  was  that  they  would  hardly 
venture  upon  such  an  attempt ;  I  observed,  indeed,  that  they  did 
not  offer  me  the  bread  and  salt,  which  I  had  understood  to  be  the 
pledges  of  peace  amongst  wandering  tribes,  but  I  fancied  that 
they  refrained  from  this  act  of  hospitality,  not  in  consequence 
of  any  hostile  determination,  but  in  order  that  the  notion  of 
robbing  me  might  remain  for  the  present  an  "  open  question." 
I  afterwards  found  that  the  poor  fellows  had  no  bread  to  offer. 
They  were  literally  "  out  at  grass  "  ;  it  is  true  that  they  had  a 
scanty  supply  of  milk  from  goats,  but  they  were  living  almost 
entirely  upon  certain  grass  stems,  which  were  just  in  season 
at  that  time  of  the  year.  These,  if  not  highly  nourishing,  are 
pleasant  enough  to  the  taste,  and  their  acid  juices  came  grate- 
fully to  thirsty  lips. 


CHAPTER   XV 

Passage  of  the  Jordan 

AND  now  Dthemetri  began  to  enter  into  a  negotiation 
with  my  hosts  for  a  passage  over  the  river.  I  never 
.  interfered  with  my  worthy  Dragoman  upon  these  occa- 
sions, because  from  my  entire  ignorance  of  the  Arabic,  I 
should  have  been  quite  unable  to  exercise  any  real  control 
over  his  words,  and  it  would  have  been  silly  to  break  the 
stream  of  his  eloquence  to  no  purpose.  I  have  reason  to  fear, 
however,  that  he  lied  transcendently,  and  especially  in  repre- 
senting me  as  the  bosom  friend  of  Ibrahim  Pasha.  The 
mention  of  that  name  produced  immense  agitation  and  excite- 
ment, and  the  Sheik  explained  to  Dthemetri  the  grounds  of 
the  infinite  respect  which  he  and  his  tribe  entertained  for  the 
Pasha.  A  few  weeks  before,  Ibrahim  had  craftily  sent  a  body 
of  troops  across  the  Jordan.  The  force  went  warily  round  to 
the  foot  of  the  mountains  on  the  East,  so  as  to  cut  off  the 
retreat  of  this  tribe,  and  then  surrounded  them  as  they  lay 
encamped  in  the  vale ;  their  camels,  and,  indeed,  all  their 
possessions  worth  taking,  were  carried  off  by  the  soldiery,  and 
moreover  the  then  Sheik,  together  with  every  tenth  man  of 
the  tribe,  was  brought  out  and  shot.  You  would  think  that 
this  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Pasha  might  not  procure  for 
his  "  friend  "  a  very  gracious  reception  amongst  the  people 
whom  he  had  thus  despoiled  and  decimated,  but  the  Asiatic 
seems  to  be  animated  with  a  feeling  of  profound  respect, 
almost  bordering  upon  affection,  for  all  who  have  done  him 
any  bold  and  violent  wrong,  and  there  is  always,  too,  so  much 
of  vague  and  undefined  apprehension  mixed  up  with  his  really 
well-founded  alarms,  that  I  can  see  no  limit  to  the  yielding  and 
bending  of  his  mind  when  it  is  worked  upon  by  the  idea  of 
power. 

After  some  discussion  the  Arabs  agreed,  as  I  thought,  to 
conduct  me  to  a  ford,  and  we  moved  on  towards  the  river, 


112  KINGLAKE 

followed  by  seventeen  of  the  most  able-bodied  of  the  tribe, 
under  the  guidance  of  several  gray-bearded  elders,  and  Sheik 
Ali  Djoubran  at  the  head  of  the  whole  detachment.  Upon 
leaving  the  encampment  a  sort  of  ceremony  was  performed, 
for  the  purpose,  it  seemed,  of  insuring,  if  possible,  a  happy 
result  for  the  undertaking.  There  was  an  uplifting  of  arms, 
and  a  repeating  of  words,  that  sounded  like  formulae,  but 
there  were  no  prostrations,  and  I  did  not  understand  that  the 
ceremony  was  of  a  religious  character.  The  tented  Arabs  are 
looked  upon  as  very  bad  Mohammedans. 

We  arrived  upon  the  banks  of  the  river  —  not  at  a  ford,  but 
at  a  deep  and  rapid  part  of  the  stream,  and  I  now  understood 
that  it  was  the  plan  of  these  men,  if  they  helped  me  at  all,  to 
transport  me  across  the  river  by  some  species  of  raft.  But  a 
reaction  had  taken  place  in  the  opinions  of  many,  and  a  violent 
dispute  arose,  upon  a  motion  which  seemed  to  have  been  made 
by  some  honorable  member,  with  a  view  to  robbery.  The 
fellows  all  gathered  together  in  a  circle,  at  a  little  distance 
from  my  party,  and  there  disputed  with  great  vehemence  and 
fury  for  nearly  two  hours.  I  can't  give  a  correct  report  of 
the  debate,  for  it  was  held  in  a  barbarous  dialect  of  the  Arabic, 
unknown  to  my  Dragoman.  I  recollect,  I  sincerely  felt  at 
the  time  that  the  arguments  in  favor  of  robbing  me  must 
have  been  almost  unanswerable,  and  I  gave  great  credit  to  the 
speakers  on  my  side  for  the  ingenuity  and  sophistry  which 
they  must  have  shown  in  maintaining  the  fight  so  well. 

During  the  discussion,  I  remained  lying  in  front  of  my  bag- 
gage, which  had  all  been  taken  from  the  pack-saddles  and 
placed  upon  the  ground.  I  was  so  languid  from  want  of  food, 
that  I  had  scarcely  animation  enough  to  feel  as  deeply  inter- 
ested as  you  would  suppose,  in  the  result  of  the  discussion. 
I  thought,  however,  that  the  pleasantest  toys  to  play  with, 
during  this  interval,  were  my  pistols,  and  now  and  then,  when 
I  listlessly  visited  my  loaded  barrels  with  the  swivel  ramrods, 
or  drew  a  sweet,  musical  click  from  my  English  firelocks,  it 
seemed  to  me  that  I  exercised  a  slight  and  gentle  influence 
on  the  debate.  Thanks  to  Ibrahim  Pasha's  terrible  visitation, 
the  men  of  the  tribe  were  wholly  unarmed,  and  my  advantage 
in  this  respect  might  have  counterbalanced,  in  some  measure, 
the  superiority  of  numbers. 


EOTHEN  113 

Mysseri  (not  interpreting  in  Arabic)  had  no  duty  to  perform, 
and  he  seemed  to  be  as  faint  and  listless  as  myself.  Shereef 
looked  perfectly  resigned  to  any  fate.  But  Dthemetri  (faith- 
ful terrier !)  was  bristling  with  zeal  and  watchfulness ;  he 
could  not  understand  the  debate,  which  indeed  was  carried 
on  at  a  distance  too  great  to  be  easily  heard,  even  if  the  lan- 
guage had  been  familiar ;  but  he  was  always  on  the  alert,  and 
now  and  then  conferring  with  men  who  had  straggled  out  of 
the  assembly ;  at  last  he  found  an  opportunity  of  making  a 
proposal,  which  at  once  produced  immense  sensation :  he 
offered,  on  my  behalf,  that  if  the  tribe  should  bear  themselves 
loyally  towards  me,  and  take  my  party  and  my  baggage 
in  safety  to  the  other  bank  of  the  river,  I  should  give  them  a 
"teskeri,"  or  written  certificate  of  their  good  conduct,  which 
might  avail  them  hereafter  in  the  hour  of  their  direst  need. 
This  proposal  was  received,  and  instantly  accepted,  by  all 
the  men  of  the  tribe  there  present,  with  the  utmost  enthusi- 
asm. I  was  to  give  the  men,  too,  a  "bakshish,"  that  is,  a 
present  of  money,  which  is  usually  made  upon  the  con- 
clusion of  any  sort  of  treaty  ;  but,  although  the  people  of 
the  tribe  were  so  miserably  poor,  they  seemed  to  look  upon 
the  pecuniary  part  of  the  arrangement  as  a  matter  quite 
trivial  in  comparison  with  the  "teskeri."  Indeed,  the  sum 
which  Dthemetri  promised  them  was  extremely  small,  and 
not  the  slightest  attempt  was  made  to  extort  any  further 
reward. 

The  Council  now  broke  up,  and  most  of  the  men  rushed 
madly  towards  me,  and  overwhelmed  me  with  vehement  gratu- 
lations  ;  they  caressed  my  boots  with  much  affection,  and  my 
hands  were  severely  kissed. 

The  Arabs  now  went  to  work  in  right  earnest  to  effect  the 
passage  of  the  river.  They  had  brought  with  them  a  great 
number  of  the  skins  which  they  use  for  carrying  water  in  the 
desert ;  these  they  filled  with  air,  and  fastened  several  of  them 
to  small  boughs,  which  they  cut  from  the  banks  of  the  river. 
In  this  way  they  constructed  a  raft  not  more  than  about  four 
feet  square,  but  rendered  buoyant  by  the  inflated  skins  which 
supported  it.  On  this  a  portion  of  my  baggage  was  placed, 
and  was  firmly  tied  to  it  by  the  cords  used  on  my  pack- 
saddles.    The  little  raft,  with  its  weighty  cargo,  was  then  gen- 


114  KINGLAKE 

tly  lifted  into  the  water,  and  I  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  that 
it  floated  well. 

Twelve  of  the  Arabs  now  stripped,  and  tied  inflated  skins 
to  their  loins ;  six  of  the  men  went  down  into  the  river,  got 
in  front  of  the  little  raft,  and  pulled  it  off  a  few  feet  from  the 
bank.  The  other  six  then  dashed  into  the  stream  with  loud 
shouts,  and  swam  along  after  the  raft,  pushing  it  from  behind. 
Off  went  the  craft  in  capital  style  at  first,  for  the  stream  was 
easy  on  the  eastern  side,  but  I  saw  that  the  tug  was  to  come, 
for  the  main  torrent  swept  round  in  a  bend  near  the  western 
banks  of  the  river. 

The  old  men,  with  their  long  gray  grisly  beards,  stood 
shouting  and  cheering,  praying  and  commanding.  At  length 
the  raft  entered  upon  the  difficult  part  of  its  course;  the 
whirling  stream  seized  and  twisted  it  about,  and  then  bore  it 
rapidly  downwards ;  the  swimmers  flagged,  and  seemed  to  be 
beaten  in  the  struggle.  But  now  the  old  men  on  the  bank,  with 
their  rigid  arms  uplifted  straight,  sent  forth  a  cry  and  a  shout 
that  tore  the  wide  air  into  tatters,  and  then  to  make  their  urg- 
ing yet  more  strong,  they  shrieked  out  the  dreadful  syllables, 
*'  'brahim  Pasha !  "  The  swimmers,  one  moment  before  so 
blown  and  so  weary,  found  lungs  to  answer  the  cry,  and 
shouting  back  the  name  of  their  great  destroyer,  they  dashed 
on  through  the  torrent  and  bore  the  raft  in  safety  to  the 
western  bank. 

Afterwards  the  swimmers  returned  with  the  raft,  and  at- 
tached to  it  the  rest  of  my  baggage.  I  took  my  seat  upon 
the  top  of  the  cargo,  and  the  raft  thus  laden  passed  the  river 
in  the  same  way  and  with  the  same  struggle  as  before.  The 
skins,  however,  not  being  perfectly  air-tight,  had  lost  a  great 
part  of  their  buoyancy,  so  that  I,  as  well  as  the  luggage  that 
passed  on  this  last  voyage,  got  wet  in  the  waters  of  Jordan. 
The  raft  could  not  be  trusted  for  another  trip,  and  the  rest  of 
my  party  passed  the  river  in  a  different  and  (for  them)  much 
safer  way.  Inflated  skins  were  fastened  to  their  loins,  and 
thus  supported  they  were  tugged  across  by  Arabs  swimming 
on  either  side  of  them.  The  horses  and  mules  were  thrown 
into  the  water,  and  forced  to  swim  over ;  the  poor  beasts  had 
a  hard  struggle  for  their  lives  in  that  swift  stream,  and  I 
thought  that  one  of  the  horses  would  have  been  drowned,  for 


EOTHEN  1 1 5 

he  was  too  weak  to  gain  a  footing  on  the  western  bank,  and 
the  stream  bore  him  down.  At  last,  however,  he  swam  back 
to  the  side  from  which  he  had  come.  Before  dark  all  had 
passed  the  river  except  this  one  horse  and  old  Shereef.  He, 
poor  fellow,  was  shivering  on  the  eastern  bank,  for  his  dread 
of  the  passage  was  so  great  that  he  delayed  it  as  long  as  he 
could,  and  at  last  it  became  so  dark  that  he  vv^as  obliged  to 
wait  till  the  morning. 

I  lay  that  night  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  me  the  Arabs  made  a  fire,  round  which  they  sat  in 
a  circle.  They  were  made  most  savagely  happy  by  the  tobacco 
with  which  I  supplied  them,  and  they  had  determined  to  make 
the  whole  night  one  smoking  festival.  The  poor  fellows  had 
only  one  broken  bowl,  without  any  tube  at  all,  but  this  morsel 
of  a  pipe  they  passed  round  from  one  to  the  other,  allowing  to 
each  a  fixed  number  of  whiffs.  In  that  way  they  passed  the 
whole  night. 

The  next  morning  old  Shereef  was  brought  across.  It  was  a 
strange  sight  to  see  this  solemn  old  Mussulman  with  his  shaven 
head,  and  his  sacred  beard,  sprawling  and  puffing  upon  the  sur- 
face of  the  water.  When  at  last  he  reached  the  bank,  the 
people  told  him  that  by  his  baptism  in  Jordan  he  had  surely 
become  a  mere  Christian.  Poor  Shereef! — the  holy  man!  — 
the  descendant  of  the  Prophet !  —  he  was  sadly  hurt  by  the 
taunt,  and  the  more  so  as  he  seemed  to  feel  there  was  some 
foundation  for  it,  and  that  he  really  may  have  absorbed  some 
Christian  errors. 

When  all  was  ready  for  departure,  I  wrote  the  "  teskeri " 
in  French,  and  delivered  it  to  Sheik  Ali  Djoubran,  together 
with  the  promised  "bakshish";  he  was  exceedingly  grateful, 
and  I  parted  upon  very  good  terms  from  this  ragged  tribe. 

In  two  or  three  hours  I  gained  Rihah,  a  village  which  is  said 
to  occupy  the  site  of  ancient  Jericho.  There  was  one  building 
there  which  I  observed  with  some  emotion,  for  although  it  may 
not  have  been  actually  standing  in  the  days  of  Jericho,  it  con- 
tained at  this  day  a  most  interesting  collection  of  —  modern 
loaves. 

Some  hours  after  sunset  I  reached  the  convent  of  Santa 
Saba,  and  there  remained  for  the  night. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Terra  Santa 

iHE  enthusiasm  that  had  glowed,  or  seemed  to  glow, 
within  me  for  one  blessed  moment  when  I  knelt  by 
the  shrine  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  at  Nazareth,  was  not 
rekindled  at  Jerusalem.  In  the  stead  of  the  solemn  gloom 
and  the  deep  stillness  that  of  right  belonged  to  the  Holy  City, 
there  was  the  hum  and  the  bustle  of  active  life.  It  was  the 
"height  of  the  season."  The  Easter  ceremonies  drew  near; 
the  pilgrims  were  flocking  in  from  all  quarters,  and  although 
their  object  was  partly  at  least  of  a  religious  character,  yet 
their  "arrivals  "  brought  as  much  stir  and  liveliness  to  the  city 
as  if  they  had  come  up  to  marry  their  daughters. 

The  votaries  who  every  year  crowd  to  the  Holy  Sepulcher 
are  chiefly  of  the  Greek  and  Armenian  churches.  They  are 
not  drawn  into  Palestine  by  a  mere  longing  to  stand  upon  the 
ground  tfodden  by  our  Savior,  but  rather  they  perform  the 
pilgrimage  as  a  plain  duty,  which  is  strongly  inculcated  by 
their  religion.  A  very  great  proportion  of  those  who  belong 
to  the  Greek  Church  contrive,  at  some  time  or  other  in  the 
course  of  their  lives,  to  achieve  the  enterprise.  Many,  in  their 
infancy  and  childhood,  are  brought  to  the  holy  sites  by  their 
parents,  but  those  who  have  not  had  this  advantage  will  often 
make  it  the  main  object  of  their  lives  to  save  money  enough 
for  this  holy  undertaking. 

The  pilgrims  begin  to  arrive  in  Palestine  some  weeks  before 
the  Easter  festival  of  the  Greek  Church ;  they  come  from 
Egypt  —  from  all  parts  of  Syria  —  from  Armenia  and  Asia 
Minor  —  from  Stamboul,  from  Roumelia,  from  the  provinces 
of  the  Danube,  and  from  all  the  Russias.  Most  of  these  peo- 
ple bring  with  them  some  articles  of  merchandise,  but  I 
myself  believe  (notwithstanding  the  common  taunt  against 
pilgrims),  that  they  do  this  rather  as  a  mode  of  paying  the 

ii6 


EOTHEN  117 

expenses  of  their  journey,  than  from  a  spirit  of  mercenary 
speculation ;  they  generally  travel  in  families,  for  the  women 
are  of  course  more  ardent  than  their  husbands  in  undertaking 
these  pious  enterprises,  and  they  take  care  to  bring  with  them 
all  their  children,  however  young,  for  the  efficacy  of  the  rites 
does  not  depend  upon  the  age  of  the  votary,  so  that  people 
whose  careful  mothers  have  obtained  for  them  the  benefit  of 
the  pilgrimage  in  early  life,  are  saved  from  the  expense  and 
trouble  of  undertaking  the  journey  at  a  later  age.  The  su- 
perior veneration,  so  often  excited  by  objects  that  are  distant 
and  unknown,  shows  not  perhaps  the  wrongheadedness  of  a 
man,  but  rather  the  transcendent  power  of  his  Imagination; 
however  this  may  be,  and  whether  it  is  by  mere  obstinacy 
that  they  poke  their  way  through  intervening  distance,  or 
whether  they  come  by  the  winged  strength  of  Fancy,  quite 
certainly  the  pilgrims  who  flock  to  Palestine  from  the  most 
remote  homes  are  the  people  most  eager  in  the  enterprise, 
and  in  number,  too,  they  bear  a  very  high  proportion  to  the 
whole  mass. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  pilgrims  make  their  way  by  sea  to  the 
port  of  Jaffa.  A  number  of  families  will  charter  a  vessel 
amongst  them,  all  bringing  their  own  provisions,  which  are  of 
the  simplest  and  cheapest  kind.  On  board  every  vessel  thus 
freighted  there  is,  I  believe,  a  priest  who  helps  the  people  in 
their  religious  exercises,  and  tries  (and  fails)  to  maintain  some- 
thing like  order  and  harmony.  The  vessels  employed  in  this 
service  are  usually  Greek  brigs,  or  brigantines,  and  schooners, 
and  the  number  of  passengers  stowed  in  them  is  almost  always 
horribly  excessive.  The  voyages  are  sadly  protracted,  not 
only  by  the  land-seeking,  storm-flying  habits  of  the  Greek  sea- 
men, but  also  by  their  endless  schemes  and  speculations,  which 
are  forever  tempting  them  to  touch  at  the  nearest  port.  The 
voyage,  too,  must  be  made  in  winter,  in  order  that  Jerusalem 
may  be  reached  some  weeks  before  the  Greek  Easter,  and  thus 
by  the  time  they  attain  to  the  holy  shrines,  the  pilgrims  have 
really  and  truly  undergone  a  very  respectable  quantity  of  suf- 
fering. I  once  saw  one  of  these  pious  cargoes  put  ashore  on 
the  coast  of  Cyprus,  where  they  had  touched  for  the  purpose 
of  visiting  (not  Paphos,  but)  some  Christian  sanctuary.  I 
never  saw  (no,  never  even  in  the  most  horridly  stuffy  ball- 


Il8  KINGLAKE 

room)  such  an  uncomfortable  collection  of  human  beings. 
Long  huddled  together  in  a  pitching  and  rolling  prison  —  fed 
on  beans  —  exposed  to  some  real  danger,  and  to  terrors  with- 
out end,  they  had  been  tumbled  about  for  many  wintry  weeks 
in  the  chopping  seas  of  the  Mediterranean ;  as  soon  as  they 
landed,  they  stood  upon  the  beach  and  chanted  a  hymn  of 
thanks;  the  chant  was  morne  and  doleful,  but  really  the  poor 
people  were  looking  so  miserable  that  one  could  not  fairly 
expect  from  them  any  lively  outpouring  of  gratitude. 

When  the  pilgrims  have  landed  at  Jaffa  they  hire  camels, 
horses,  mules,  or  donkeys,  and  make  their  way  as  well  as  they 
can  to  the  Holy  City.  The  space  fronting  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulcher  soon  becomes  a  kind  of  Bazaar,  or  rather,  per- 
haps, reminds  you  of  an  English  Fair.  On  this  spot  the  pil- 
grims display  their  merchandise,  and  there,  too,  the  trading 
residents  of  the  place  offer  their  goods  for  sale.  I  have  never, 
I  think,  seen  elsewhere  in  Asia  so  much  commercial  anima- 
tion as  upon  this  square  of  ground  by  the  church  door ;  the 
"money-changers"  seemed  to  be  almost  as  brisk  and  lively  as 
if  they  had  been  within  the  Temple. 

When  I  entered  the  church  I  found  a  Babel  of  worshipers. 
Greek,  Roman,  and  Armenian  priests  were  performing  their 
different  rites  in  various  nooks  and  corners,  and  crowds  of  dis- 
ciples were  rushing  about  in  all  directions,  —  some  laughing 
and  talking,  —  some  begging,  but  most  of  them  going  about 
in  a  regular  and  methodical  way  to  kiss  the  sanctified  spots, 
and  speak  the  appointed  syllables,  and  lay  down  the  accus- 
tomed coin.  If  this  kissing  of  the  shrines  had  seemed  as 
though  it  were  done  at  the  bidding  of  Enthusiasm,  or  of  any 
poor  sentiment,  even  feebly  approaching  to  it,  the  sight  would 
have  been  less  odd  to  English  eyes ;  but  as  it  was,  I  stared  to 
see  grown  men  thus  steadily  and  carefully  embracing  the  sticks 
and  the  stones  —  not  from  love  or  from  zeal  (else  God  forbid 
that  I  should  have  stared),  but  from  a  calm  sense  of  duty ; 
they  seemed  to  be  not  "  working  out,"  but  transacting,  the 
great  business  of  Salvation. 

Dthemetri,  however,  who  generally  came  with  me  when  I 
went  out,  in  order  to  do  duty  as  interpreter,  really  had  in  him 
some  enthusiasm ;  he  was  a  zealous  and  almost  fanatical 
member  of  the  Greek  Church,  and  had  long  since  performed 


EOTHEN  119 

the  pilgrimage,  so  now  great  indeed  was  the  pride  and  delight 
with  which  he  guided  me  from  one  holy  spot  to  another. 
Every  now  and  then,  when  he  came  to  an  unoccupied  shrine, 
he  fell  down  on  his  knees  and  performed  devotion ;  he  was 
almost  distracted  by  the  temptations  that  surrounded  him; 
there  were  so  many  stones  absolutely  requiring  to  be  kissed 
that  he  rushed  about  happily  puzzled  and  sweetly  teased,  like 
"Jack  among  the  maidens." 

A  Protestant,  familiar  with  the  Holy  Scriptures,  but  igno- 
rant of  tradition  and  the  geography  of  Modern  Jerusalem, 
finds  himself  a  good  deal  "  mazed  "  when  he  first  looks  for 
the  sacred  rites.  The  Holy  Sepulcher  is  not  in  a  field  with- 
out the  walls,  but  in  the  midst,  and  in  the  best  part,  of  the 
town,  under  the  roof  of  the  great  church  which  I  have  been 
talking  about ;  it  is  a  handsome  tomb  of  oblong  form,  partly 
subterranean  and  partly  above  ground,  and  closed  in  on  all 
sides,  except  the  one  by  which  it  is  entered.  You  descend 
into  the  interior  by  a  few  steps,  and  there  find  an  altar  with 
burning  tapers.  This  is  the  spot  which  is  held  in  greater 
sanctity  than  any  other  at  Jerusalem.  When  you  have  seen 
enough  of  it,  you  feel  perhaps  weary  of  the  busy  crowd  and 
inclined  for  a  gallop  ;  you  ask  your  Dragoman  whether 
there  will  be  time  before  sunset  to  procure  horses  and  take 
a  ride  to  Mount  Calvary.  Mount  Calvary,  Signor  ?  —  eccolo ! 
—  it  is  up-stairs  —  on  the  first  floor.  In  effect  you  ascend,  if 
I  remember  rightly,  just  thirteen  steps,  and  then  you  are 
shown  the  now  golden  sockets  in  which  the  crosses  of  our 
Lord  and  the  two  thieves  were  fixed.  All  this  is  startling, 
but  the  truth  is  that  the  city  having  gathered  round  the 
Sepulcher,  which  is  the  main  point  of  interest,  has  crept 
northward,  and  thus  in  great  measure  are  occasioned  the 
many  geographical  surprises  which  puzzle  the  "  Bible  Chris- 
tian." 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  comprises  very  com- 
pendiously almost  all  the  spots  associated  with  the  closing 
career  of  our  Lord.  Just  there,  on  your  right,  he  stood  and 
wept ;  by  the  pillar  on  your  left  he  was  scourged ;  on  the 
spot  just  before  you  he  was  crowned  with  the  crown  of 
thorns ;  up  there  he  was  crucified,  and  down  here  he  was 
buried.     A  locality  is  assigned  to  every,  the  minutest,  event 


I20  KINGLAKE 

connected  with  the  recorded  history  of  our  Savior ;  even  the 
spot  where  the  cock  crew,  when  Peter  denied  his  Master,  is 
ascertained  and  surrounded  by  the  walls  of  an  Armenian  con- 
vent. Many  Protestants  are  wont  to  treat  these  traditions 
contemptuously,  and  those  who  distinguish  themselves  from 
their  brethren  by  the  appellation  of  "Bible  Christians"  are 
almost  fierce  in  their  denunciation  of  these  supposed  errors. 

It  is  admitted,  I  believe,  by  everybody,  that  the  formal 
sanctification  of  these  spots  was  the  act  of  the  Empress 
Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantine,  but  I  think  it  is  fair  to 
suppose  that  she  was  guided  by  a  careful  regard  to  the  then 
prevailing  traditions.  Now  the  nature  of  the  ground  upon 
which  Jerusalem  stands  is  such  that  the  localities  belonging 
to  the  events  there  enacted  might  have  been  more  easily  and 
permanently  ascertained  by  tradition  than  those  of  any  city 
that  I  know  of.  Jerusalem,  whether  ancient  or  modern,  was 
built  upon  and  surrounded  by  sharp,  salient  rocks,  intersected 
by  deep  ravines.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  siege  Mount  Cal- 
vary, of  course,  must  have  been  well  enough  known  to  the 
people  of  Jerusalem ;  the  destruction  of  the  mere  buildings 
could  not  have  obliterated  from  any  man's  memory  the 
names  of  those  steep  rocks  and  narrow  ravines  in  the  midst 
of  which  the  city  had  stood.  It  seems  to  me,  therefore, 
highly  probable  that  in  fixing  the  site  of  Calvary,  the  Empress 
was  rightly  guided.  Recollect,  too,  that  the  voice  of  tradition 
at  Jerusalem  is  quite  unanimous,  and  that  Romans,  Greeks, 
Armenians,  and  Jews,  all  hating  each  other  sincerely,  concur 
in  assigning  the  same  localities  to  the  events  told  in  the 
Gospel.  I  concede,  however,  that  the  attempt  of  the  Em- 
press to  ascertain  the  sites  of  the  minor  events  cannot  be 
safely  relied  upon.  With  respect,  for  instance,  to  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  spot  where  the  cock  crew,  I  am  far  from  being 
convinced. 

Supposing  that  the  Empress  acted  arbitrarily  in  fixing  the 
holy  sites,  it  would  seem  that  she  followed  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John,  and  that  the  geography  sanctioned  by  her  can  be  more 
easily  reconciled  with  that  history  than  with  the  accounts  of 
the  other  Evangelists. 

The  authority  exercised  by  the  Mussulman  Government  in 
relation  to  the  holy  sites  is  in  one  view  somewhat  humbling 


EOTHEN  121 

to  the  Christians,  for  it  is  almost  as  an  arbitrator  between 
the  contending  sects  (this  always,  of  course,  for  the  sake  of 
pecuniary  advantage)  that  the  Mussulman  lends  his  con- 
temptuous aid ;  he  not  only  grants,  but  enforces,  toleration. 
All  persons,  of  whatever  rehgion,  are  allowed  to  go  as  they 
will  into  every  part  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher, 
but  in  order  to  prevent  indecent  contests,  and  also  from 
motives  arising  out  of  money  payments,  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment assigns  the  peculiar  care  of  each  sacred  spot  to  one 
of  the  ecclesiastic  bodies.  Since  this  guardianship  carries 
with  it  the  receipt  of  the  coins  which  the  pilgrims  leave 
upon  the  shrines,  it  is  strenuously  fought  for  by  all  the  rival 
churches,  and  the  artifices  of  intrigue  are  busily  exerted  at 
Stamboul  in  order  to  procure  the  issue  or  revocation  of  the 
firmans,  by  which  the  coveted  privilege  is  granted.  In  this 
strife  the  Greek  Church  has  of  late  years  signally  triumphed, 
and  the  most  famous  of  the  shrines  are  committed  to  the 
care  of  their  priesthood.  They  possess  the  golden  socket  in 
which  stood  the  cross  of  our  Lord,  whilst  the  Latins  are 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  the  apertures  in  which 
were  inserted  the  crosses  of  the  two  thieves ;  they  are 
naturally  discontented  with  that  poor  privilege,  and  sorrow- 
fully look  back  to  the  days  of  their  former  glory  —  the  days 
when  Napoleon  was  Emperor,  and  Sebastiani  was  minister 
at  the  Porte.  It  seems  that  the  "citizen''  Sultan,  old  Louis 
Philippe,  has  done  very  little  indeed  for  Holy  Church  in 
Palestine. 

Although  the  pilgrims  perform  their  devotions  at  the  sev- 
eral shrines  with  so  little  apparent  enthusiasm,  they  are  driven 
to  the  verge  of  madness  by  the  miracle  which  is  displayed  to 
them  on  Easter  Saturday.  Then  it  is  that  the  heaven-sent 
fire  issues  from  the  Holy  Sepulcher.  The  pilgrims  all  assem- 
ble in  the  great  church,  and  already,  long  before  the  wonder 
is  worked,  they  are  wrought  by  anticipation  of  God's  sign,  as 
well  as  by  their  struggles  for  room  and  breathing  space,  to 
a  most  frightful  state  of  excitement.  At  length  the  Chief 
Priest  of  the  Greeks,  accompanied  (of  all  people  in  the  world) 
by  the  Turkish  Governor,  enters  the  tomb.  After  this  there 
is  a  long  pause,  and  then,  suddenly,  from  out  of  the  small 
apertures  on  either  side  of  the  Sepulcher  there  issue  long, 


122  KINGLAKE 

shining  flames.  The  pilgrims  now  rush  forward,  madly 
struggling  to  light  their  tapers  at  the  holy  fire.  This  is  the 
dangerous  moment,  and  many  lives  are  often  lost. 

The  year  before  that  of  my  going  to  Jerusalem,  Ibrahim 
Pasha,  from  some  whim  or  motive  of  policy,  chose  to  witness 
the  miracle.  The  vast  church  was  of  course  thronged,  as  it 
always  is  on  that  awful  day.  It  seems  that  the  appearance 
of  the  fire  was  delayed  for  a  very  long  time,  and  that  the 
growing  frenzy  of  the  people  was  heightened  by  suspense. 
Many,  too,  had  already  sunk  under  the  effect  of  the  heat 
and  the  stifling  atmosphere,  when  at  last  the  fire  flashed 
from  the  Sepulcher.  Then  a  terrible  struggle  ensued  —  many 
sank  and  were  crushed.  Ibrahim  had  taken  his  station  in 
one  of  the  galleries,  but  now,  feeling  perhaps  his  brave  blood 
warmed  by  the  sight  and  sound  of  such  strife,  he  took  upon 
himself  to  quiet  the  people  by  his  personal  presence  and 
descended  into  the  body  of  the  church  with  only  a  few 
guards ;  he  had  forced  his  way  into  the  midst  of  the  dense 
crowd,  when,  unhappily,  he  fainted  away  ;  his  guards  shrieked 
out,  and  the  event  instantly  became  known.  A  body  of 
soldiers  recklessly  forced  their  way  through  the  crowd, 
trampling  over  every  obstacle  that  they  might  save  the  life 
of  their  general.  Nearly  two  hundred  people  were  killed  in 
the  struggle. 

The  following  year,  hov/ever,  the  Government  took  better 
measures  for  the  prevention  of  these  calamities.  I  was  not 
present  at  the  ceremony,  having  gone  away  from  Jerusalem 
some  time  before,  but  I  afterwards  returned  into  Palestine, 
and  I  then  learned  that  the  day  had  passed  off  without  any 
disturbance  of  a  fatal  kind.  It  is,  however,  almost  too  much 
to  expect  that  so  many  ministers  of  peace  can  assemble 
without  finding  some  occasion  for  strife,  and  in  that  year  a 
tribe  of  wild  Bedouins  became  the  subject  of  discord ;  these 
men,  it  seems,  led  an  Arab  life  in  some  of  the  desert  tracts 
bordering  on  the  neighborhood  of  Jerusalem,  but  were  not 
connected  with  any  of  the  great  ruling  tribes.  Some  whim 
or  notion  of  policy  had  induced  them  to  embrace  Christianity, 
but  they  were  grossly  ignorant  of  the  rudiments  of  their 
adopted  faith,  and  having  no  priest  with  them  in  their  desert, 
they  had  as  little  knowledge  of  religious  ceremonies  as  of 


EOTHEN  123 

religion  itself  ;  they  were  not  even  capable  of  conducting 
themselves  in  a  place  of  worship  with  ordinary  decorum,  but 
would  interrupt  the  service  with  scandalous  cries  and  warlike 
shouts.  Such  is  the  account  the  Latins  give  of  them,  but  I 
have  never  heard  the  other  side  of  the  question.  These  wild 
fellows,  notwithstanding  their  entire  ignorance  of  all  religion, 
are  yet  claimed  by  the  Greeks,  not  only  as  proselytes  who 
have  embraced  Christianity  generally,  but  as  converts  to  the 
particular  doctrines  and  practise  of  their  church.  The  people 
thus  alleged  to  have  concurred  in  the  great  schism  of  the 
Eastern  Empire  are  never,  I  believe,  within  the  walls  of  a 
church,  or  even  of  any  building  at  all,  except  upon  this 
occasion  of  Easter,  and  as  they  then  never  fail  to  find  a  row 
of  some  kind  going  on  by  the  side  of  the  Sepulcher,  they 
fancy,  it  seems,  that  the  ceremonies  there  enacted  are  funeral 
games,  of  a  martial  character,  held  in  honor  of  a  deceased 
chieftain,  and  that  a  Christian  festival  is  a  peculiar  kind  of 
battle  fought  between  walls  and  without  cavalry.  It  does 
not  appear,  however,  that  these  men  are  guilty  of  any  fero- 
cious acts,  or  that  they  attempt  to  commit  depredations.  The 
charge  against  them  is  merely,  that  by  their  way  of  applaud- 
ing the  performance  —  by  their  horrible  cries  and  frightful 
gestures,  they  destroy  the  solemnity  of  divine  service,  and 
upon  this  ground  the  Franciscans  obtained  a  firman  for  the 
exclusion  of  such  tumultuous  worshipers.  The  Greeks, 
however,  did  not  choose  to  lose  the  aid  of  their  wild  con- 
verts, merely  because  they  were  a  little  backward  in  their 
religious  education,  and  they  therefore  persuaded  them  to 
defy  the  firman  by  entering  the  city  en  masse,  and  overawing 
their  enemies.  The  Franciscans,  as  well  as  the  Government 
authorities,  were  obliged  to  give  way,  and  the  Arabs  trium- 
phantly marched  into  the  church.  The  festival,  however, 
must  have  seemed  to  them  rather  flat,  for  although  there 
may  have  been  some  "casualties"  in  the  way  of  eyes  black, 
and  noses  bloody,  and  women  "missing,"  there  was  no  return 
of  "killed." 

Formerly,  the  Latin  Catholics  concurred  in  acknowledging 
(but  not  I  hope  in  working)  the  annual  miracle  of  the  heav- 
enly fire,  but  they  have  for  many  years  withdrawn  their 
countenance  from  this  exhibition,  and  they  now  repudiate  it 


124  KINGLAKE 

as  a  trick  of  the  Greek  Church.  Thus,  of  course,  the  violence 
of  feeling  with  which  the  rival  churches  meet  at  the  Holy 
Sepulcher,  on  Easter  Saturday,  is  greatly  increased,  and  a 
disturbance  of  some  kind  is  certain.  In  the  year  I  speak 
of,  though  no  lives  were  lost,  there  was,  as  it  seems,  a  tough 
struggle  in  the  church.  I  was  amused  at  hearing  of  a  taunt 
that  was  thrown  that  da)'-  upon  an  English  traveler :  he  had 
taken  his  station  in  a  convenient  part  of  the  church,  and  was 
no  doubt  displaying  that  peculiar  air  of  serenity  and  gratifica- 
tion with  which  an  English  gentleman  usually  looks  on  at  a 
row,  when  one  of  the  Franciscans  came  by,  all  reeking  from 
the  fight,  and  was  so  disgusted  at  the  coolness  and  placid 
contentment  of  the  Englishman  (who  was  a  guest  at  the 
convent)  that  he  forgot  his  monkish  humility  as  well  as  the 
duties  of  hospitality,  and  plainly  said,  "  You  sleep  under  our 
roof  —  you  eat  our  bread  —  you  drink  our  wine,  and  then 
when  Easter  Saturday  comes  you  don't  fight  for  us ! " 

Yet  these  rival  churches  go  on  quietly  enough  till  their 
blood  is  up.  The  terms  on  which  they  live  remind  one  of 
the  peculiar  relation  subsisting  at  Cambridge  between  "town 
and  gown." 

These  contests  and  disturbances  certainly  do  not  originate 
with  the  lay  pilgrims,  the  great  body  of  whom  are,  as  I 
believe,  quiet  and  inoffensive  people ;  it  is  true,  however, 
that  their  pious  enterprise  is  believed  by  them  to  operate 
as  a  counterpoise  for  a  multitude  of  sins,  whether  past  or 
future,  and  perhaps  they  exert  themselves  in  after-life  to 
restore  the  balance  of  good  and  evil.  The  Turks  have  a 
maxim,  which,  like  most  cynical  apothegms,  carries  with  it 
the  buzzing  trumpet  of  falsehood,  as  well  as  the  small,  fine 
"  sting  of  truth."  "  If  your  friend  has  made  the  pilgrimage 
once,  distrust  him  —  if  he  has  made  the  pilgrimage  twice, 
cut  him  dead ! "  The  caution  is  said  to  be  as  applicable  to 
the  visitants  of  Jerusalem  as  to  those  of  Mecca,  but  I  cannot 
help  believing  that  the  frailties  of  all  the  Hadjis,^  whether 
Christian  or  Mohammedan,  are  greatly  exaggerated.  I  cer- 
tainly regarded  the  pilgrims  to  Palestine  as  a  well-disposed, 
orderly  body  of  people,  not  strongly  enthusiastic,  but  desirous 
to  comply  with  the  ordinances  of  their  religion,  and  to  attain 
1  Hadji  —  a  pilgrim. 


EOTHEN  125 

the  great  end  of  salvation  as  quietly  and  economically  as 
possible. 

When  the  solemnities  of  Easter  are  concluded,  the  pilgrims 
move  off  in  a  body  to  complete  their  good  work,  by  visiting 
the  sacred  scenes  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jerusalem,  including 
the  Wilderness  of  John  the  Baptist,  Bethlehem,  and  above 
all  the  Jordan,  for  to  bathe  in  those  sacred  waters  is  one  of 
the  chief  objects  of  the  expedition.  All  the  pilgrims  —  men, 
women,  and  children  —  are  submerged,  en  chemise,  and  the 
saturated  linen  is  carefully  wrapped  up,  and  preserved  as  a 
burial  dress  that  shall  inure  for  salvation  in  the  realms  of 
death. 

I  saw  the  burial  of  a  pilgrim  ;  he  was  a  Greek  —  miserably 
poor  and  very  old ;  he  had  just  crawled  into  the  Holy  City, 
and  had  reached  at  once  the  goal  of  his  pious  journey  and  the 
end  of  his  sufferings  upon  earth ;  there  was  no  coffin  nor 
wrapper,  and  as  I  looked  full  upon  the  face  of  the  dead,  I  saw 
how  deeply  it  was  rutted  with  the  ruts  of  age  and  misery. 
The  priest,  strong  and  portly,  fresh,  fat,  and  alive  with  the 
life  of  the  animal  kingdom  —  unpaid  or  ill  paid  for  his  work, 
would  scarcely  deign  to  mutter  out  his  forms,  but  hurried  over 
the  words  with  shocking  haste ;  presently  he  called  out  im- 
patiently—  "Yalla!  goor!"  (Come!  look  sharp!)  and  then 
the  dead  Greek  was  seized ;  his  limbs  yielded  inertly  to  the 
rude  men  that  handled  them,  and  down  he  went  into  his 
grave,  so  roughly  bundled  in  that  his  neck  was  twisted  by  the 
fall,  —  so  twisted,  that  if  the  sharp  malady  of  life  were  still 
upon  him,  the  old  man  would  have  shrieked  and  groaned,  and 
the  lines  of  his  face  would  have  quivered  with  pain  ;  the  lines 
of  his  face  were  not  moved,  and  the  old  man  lay  still  and 
heedless —  so  well  cured  of  that  tedious  life-ache,  that  nothing 
could  hurt  him  now.  His  clay  was  itself  again  —  cool,  firm, 
and  tough.  The  pilgrim  had  found  great  rest ;  I  threw  the 
accustomed  handful  of  the  holy  soil  upon  his  patient  face,  and 
then,  and  in  less  than  a  minute,  the  earth  closed  coldly  round 
him. 

I  did  not  say  "  Alas  !  "  —  (nobody  ever  does  that  I  know  of, 
though  the  word  is  so  frequently  written).  I  thought  the  old 
man  had  got  rather  well  out  of  the  scrape  of  being  alive  and 
poor. 


126  KINGLAKE 

The  destruction  of  the  mere  buildings  in  such  a  place  as 
Jerusalem  would  not  involve  the  permanent  dispersion  of  the 
inhabitants,  for  the  rocky  neighborhood  in  which  the  town  is 
situate  abounds  in  caves,  which  would  give  an  easy  refuge  to 
the  people  until  they  gained  an  opportunity  of  rebuilding 
their  dwellings.  Therefore  I  could  not  help  looking  upon 
the  Jews  of  Jerusalem,  as  being  in  some  sort  the  representa- 
tives, if  not  the  actual  descendants,  of  the  rascals  that  cruci- 
fied our  Savior.  Supposing  this  to  be  the  case,  I  felt  that 
there  would  be  some  interest  in  knowing  how  the  events  of 
the  Gospel  History  were  regarded  by  the  Israelites  of  modern 
Jerusalem.  The  result  of  my  inquiry  upon  this  subject  was, 
so  far  as  it  went,  entirely  favorable  to  the  truth  of  Christian- 
ity. I  understood  that  the  performance  of  the  miracles  was 
not  doubted  by  any  of  the  Jews  in  the  place ;  all  of  them  con-" 
curred  in  attributing  the  works  of  our  Lord  to  the  influence  of 
magic,  but  they  were  divided  as  to  the  species  of  enchant- 
ment from  which  the  power  proceeded ;  the  great  mass  of  the 
Jewish  people  believed,  I  fancy,  that  the  miracles  had  been 
wrought  by  aid  of  the  powers  of  darkness,  but  many,  and 
those  the  more  enlightened,  would  call  Jesus  "the  good 
Magician."  To  Europeans  repudiating  the  notion  of  all 
magic,  good  or  bad,  the  opinion  of  the  Jews  as  to  the  agency 
by  which  the  miracles  were  worked  is  a  matter  of  no  impor- 
tance, but  the  circumstance  of  their  admitting  that  those 
miracles  were  in  fact  performed  is  certainly  curious,  and  per- 
haps not  quite  immaterial. 

If  you  stay  in  the  Holy  City  long  enough  to  fall  into 
anything  like  regular  habits  of  amusement  and  occupation, 
and  to  become,  in  short,  for  the  time  a  "  man  about  town  "  at 
Jerusalem,  you  will  necessarily  lose  the  enthusiasm  which  you 
may  have  felt  when  you  trod  the  sacred  soil  for  the  first  time, 
and  it  will  then  seem  almost  strange  to  you  to  find  yourself 
so  thoroughly  surrounded  in  all  your  daily  pursuits  by  the 
signs  and  sounds  of  religion.  Your  Hotel  is  a  monastery  — 
your  rooms  are  cells  —  the  landlord  is  a  stately  abbot,  and  the 
waiters  are  hooded  monks.  If  you  walk  out  of  the  town  you 
find  yourself  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  or  in  the  Valley  of 
Jehoshaphat,  or  on  the  Hill  of  Evil  Counsel.  If  you  mount 
your  horse  and  extend  your  rambles,  you  will  be  guided  to 


EOTHEN  127 

the  wilderness  of  St.  John,  or  the  birthplace  of  our  Savior. 
Your  club  is  the  great  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher,  where 
everybody  meets  everybody  every  day.  If  you  lounge  through 
the  town,  your  Bond  Street  is  the  Via  Dolorosa,  and  the 
object  of  your  hopeless  affections  is  some  maid  or  matron  all 
forlorn,  and  sadly  shrouded  in  her  pilgrim's  robe.  If  you 
would  hear  music,  it  must  be  the  chanting  of  friars  —  if  you 
look  at  pictures,  you  see  Virgins  with  mis-foreshortened  arms, 
or  devils  out  of  drawing,  or  angels  tumbling  up  the  skies  in 
impious  perspective.  If  you  would  make  any  purchases,  you 
must  go  again  to  the  church  doors,  and  when  you  inquire  for 
the  manufactures  of  the  place,  you  find  that  they  consist  of 
double-blessed  beads  and  sanctified  shells.  These  last  are 
the  favorite  tokens  which  the  pilgrims  carry  off  with  them ; 
the  shell  is  graven  or  rather  scratched  on  the  white  side  with 
a  rude  drawing  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  or  of  the  Crucifixion, 
or  some  other  scriptural  subject ;  and  having  passed  this 
stage,  it  goes  into  the  hands  of  a  priest ;  by  him  it  is  sub- 
jected to  some  process  for  rendering  it  efficacious  against  the 
schemes  of  our  ghostly  enemy ;  the  manufacture  is  then  com- 
plete, and  is  deemed  to  be  fit  for  use. 

The  village  of  Bethlehem  lies  prettily  couched  on  the  slope 
of  a  hill.  The  sanctuary  is  a  subterranean  grotto,  and  is 
committed  to  the  joint  guardianship  of  the  Romans,  Greeks, 
and  Armenians,  who  vie  with  each  other  in  adorning  it. 
Beneath  an  altar  gorgeously  decorated,  and  lit  with  everlasting 
fires,  there  stands  the  low  slab  of  stone  which  marks  the  holy 
site  of  the  Nativity ;  and  near  to  this  is  a  hollow  scooped  out 
of  the  living  rock.  Here  the  infant  Jesus  was  laid.  Near  the 
spot  of  the  Nativity  is  the  rock  against  which  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  leaning  when  she  presented  her  babe  to  the 
adoring  shepherds. 

Many  of  those  Protestants  who  are  accustomed  to  despise 
tradition  consider  that  this  sanctuary  is  altogether  unscriptu- 
ral  —  that  a  grotto  is  not  a  stable,  and  that  mangers  are  made 
of  wood.  It  is  perfectly  true,  however,  that  the  many  grot- 
toes and  caves  which  are  found  among  the  rocks  of  Judea 
were  formerly  used  for  the  reception  of  cattle  ;  they  are  so 
used  at  this  day ;  I  have  myself  seen  grottoes  appropriated 
to  this  purpose. 


128  KINGLAKE 

You  know  what  a  sad  and  somber  decorum  it  is  that  out- 
wardly reigns  through  the  lands  oppressed  by  Moslem  sway. 
The  Mohammedans  make  beauty  their  prisoner,  and  enforce 
such  a  stern  and  gloomy  morality,  or  at  all  events  such  a 
frightfully  close  semblance  of  it,  that  far  and  long  the  wearied 
traveler  may  go  without  catching  one  glimpse  of  outward 
happiness.  By  a  strange  chance  in  these  latter  days  it  hap- 
pened, that  alone  of  all  the  places  in  the  land  this  Bethle- 
hem, the  native  village  of  our  Lord,  escaped  the  moral  yoke 
of  the  Mussulmans,  and  heard  again,  after  ages  of  dull  op- 
pression, the  cheering  clatter  of  social  freedom  and  the  voices 
of  laughing  girls.  It  was  after  an  insurrection  which  had  been 
raised  against  the  authority  of  Mehemet  Ali,  that  Bethlehem 
was  freed  from  the  hateful  laws  of  Asiatic  decorum.  The 
Mussulmans  of  the  village  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the 
movement,  and  when  Ibrahim  had  quelled  it,  his  wrath  was 
still  so  hot  that  he  put  to  death  every  one  of  the  few  Moham- 
medans of  Bethlehem  who  had  not  already  fled.  The  effect 
produced  upon  the  Christian  inhabitants  by  the  sudden  re- 
moval of  this  restraint  was  immense.  The  village  smiled  once 
more.  It  is  true  that  such  sweet  freedom  could  not  long 
endure.  Even  if  the  population  of  the  place  should  continue 
to  be  entirely  Christian,  the  sad  decorum  of  the  Mussulmans, 
or  rather  of  the  Asiatics,  would  sooner  or  later  be  restored  by 
the  force  of  opinion  and  custom.  But  for  a  while  the  sun- 
shine would  last,  and  when  I  was  at  Bethlehem,  though  long 
after  the  flight  of  the  Mussulmans,  the  cloud  of  Moslem  pro- 
priety had  not  yet  come  back  to  cast  its  cold  shadow  upon 
life.  When  you  reach  that  gladsome  village,  pray  Heaven 
there  still  may  be  heard  there  the  voice  of  free,  innocent  girls. 
It  will  sound  so  dearly  welcome  ! 

To  a  Christian  and  thoroughbred  Englishman,  not  even 
the  licentiousness  which  generally  accompanies  it  can  com- 
pensate for  the  oppressiveness  of  that  horrible  outward  de- 
corum, which  turns  the  cities  and  the  palaces  of  Asia  into  des- 
erts and  jails.  So,  I  say,  when  you  see  and  hear  them,  those 
romping  girls  of  Bethlehem  will  gladden  your  very  soul. 
Distant  at  first,  and  then  nearer  and  nearer,  the  timid  flock 
will  gather  around  you  with  their  large,  burning  eyes  gravely 
fixed  against  yours,  so  that  they  see  into  your  brain,  and  if 


EOTHEN  129 

you  imagine  evil  against  them,  they  will  know  of  your  ill 
thought  before  it  is  yet  well  born,  and  will  fly,  and  be  gone 
in  the  moment.  But  presently  if  you  will  only  look  virtuous 
enough  to  prevent  alarm,  and  vicious  enough  to  avoid  look- 
ing silly,  the  blithe  maidens  will  draw  nearer  and  nearer  to 
you,  and  soon  there  will  be  one,  the  bravest  of  the  sisters, 
who  will  venture  right  up  to  your  side,  and  touch  the  hem  of 
your  coat,  in  playful  defiance  of  the  danger,  and  then  the 
rest  will  follow  the  daring  of  their  youthful  leader,  and 
gather  close  round  you,  and  hold  a  shrill  controversy  on  the 
wondrous  formation  that  you  call  a  hat,  and  the  cunning  of 
the  hands  that  clothed  you  with  cloth  so  fine ;  and  then  grow- 
ing more  profound  in  their  researches,  they  will  pass  from  the 
study  of  your  mere  dress  to  a  serious  contemplation  of  your 
stately  height,  and  your  nut-brown  hair,  and  the  ruddy  glow 
of  your  English  cheeks.  And  if  they  catch  a  glimpse  of  your 
ungloved  fingers,  then  again  will  they  make  the  air  ring  with 
their  sweet  screams  of  wonder  and  amazement,  as  they  com- 
pare the  fairness  of  your  hand  with  their  warmer  tints,  and 
even  with  the  hues  of  your  own  sunburnt  face ;  instantly  the 
ringleader  of  the  gentle  rioters  imagines  a  new  sin  :  with  trem- 
ulous boldness  she  touches  —  then  grasps  your  hand,  and 
smooths  it  gently  betwixt  her  own,  and  pries  curiously  into  its 
make  and  color,  as  though  it  were  silk  of  Damascus,  or  shawl 
of  Cashmere.  And  when  they  see  you  even  then,  still  sage 
and  gentle,  the  joyous  girls  will  suddenly,  and  screamingly, 
and  all  at  once,  explain  to  each  other  that  you  are  surely 
quite  harmless  and  innocent,  —  a  lion  that  makes  no  spring 
—  a  bear  that  never  hugs,  —  and  upon  this  faith,  one  after  the 
other,  they  will  take  your  passive  hand,  and  strive  to  explain 
it,  and  make  it  a  theme  and  a  controversy.  But  the  one  — 
the  fairest  and  the  sweetest  of  all  —  is  yet  the  most  timid ;  she 
shrinks  from  the  daring  deeds  of  her  playmates,  and  seeks 
shelter  behind  their  sleeves,  and  strives  to  screen  her  glowing 
consciousness  from  the  eyes  that  look  upon  her;  but  her 
laughing  sisters  will  have  none  of  this  cowardice  —  they  vow 
that  the  fair  one  shall  be  their  complice  —  shall  share  their 
dangers  —  shall  touch  the  hand  of  the  stranger ;  they  seize 
her  small  wrist,  and  drag  her  forward  by  force,  and  at  last, 
whilst  yet  she  strives  to  turn  away,  and  to  cover  up  her  whole 
24 


130  KINGLAKE 

soul  under  the  folds  of  downcast  eyelids,  they  vanquish  her 
utmost  strength  —  they  vanquish  your  utmost  modesty,  and 
marry  her  hand  to  yours.  The  quick  pulse  springs  from  her 
fingers,  and  throbs  like  a  whisper  upon  your  listening  palm. 
For  an  instant  her  large,  timid  eyes  are  upon  you  —  in  an 
instant  they  are  shrouded  again,  and  there  comes  a  blush  so 
burning  that  the  frightened  girls  stay  their  shrill  laughter,  as 
though  they  had  played  too  perilously  and  harmed  their  gen- 
tle sister.  A  moment,  and  all,  with  a  sudden  intelligence, 
turn  away,  and  fly  like  deer ;  yet  soon  again,  like  deer  they 
wheel  round  and  return,  and  stand  and  gaze  upon  the  danger, 
until  they  grow  brave  once  more. 

"  I  regret  to  observe  that  the  removal  of  the  moral  restraint 
imposed  by  the  presence  of  the  Mohammedan  inhabitants  has 
led  to  a  certain  degree  of  boisterous,  though  innocent  levity, 
in  the  bearing  of  the  Christians,  and  more  especially  in  the 
demeanor  of  those  who  belong  to  the  younger  portion  of  the 
female  population ;  but  I  feel  assured  that  a  more  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  their  own  pure  religion  will 
speedily  restore  these  young  people  to  habits  of  propriety, 
even  more  strict  than  those  which  were  imposed  upon  them 
by  the  authority  of  their  Mohammedan  brethren."  Bah  !  thus 
you  might  chant,  if  you  chose ;  but  loving  the  truth  you  will 
not  so  disown  sweet  Bethlehem  —  you  will  not  disown  nor 
dissemble  the  right  good  hearty  delight  with  which,  in  the 
midst  of  the  arid  waste,  you  found  this  gushing  spring  of 
fresh  and  joyous  girlhood. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

The  Desert 

GAZA  is  upon   the   edge  of   the    Desert,  to  which  it 
stands  in  the  same  relation  as  a  seaport  to  the  sea. 
It  is  there  that  you  charter  your  camels  ("  the  ships 
of  the  Desert "),  and  lay  in  your  stores  for  the  voyage. 

These  preparations  kept  me  in  the  town  for  some  days  ; 
disliking  restraint,  I  declined  making  myself  the  guest  of  the 
Governor  (as  it  is  usual  and  proper  to  do),  but  took  up  my 
quarters  at  the  Caravanserai,  or  "  Khan,"  as  they  call  it  in 
that  part  of  Asia. 

Dthemetri  had  to  make  the  arrangements  for  my  journey,  and 
in  order  to  arm  himself  with  sufficient  authority  for  doing  all 
that  was  required,  he  found  it  necessary  to  put  himself  in  com- 
munication with  the  Governor.  The  result  of  this  diplomatic 
intercourse  was,  that  the  Governor,  with  his  train  of  attend- 
ants, came  to  me  one  day  at  my  Caravanserai,  and  formally 
complained  that  Dthemetri  had  grossly  insulted  him.  I  was 
shocked  at  this,  for  the  man  was  always  attentive  and  civil  to 
me,  and  I  was  disgusted  at  the  idea  of  his  having  been  rewarded 
with  insult.  Dthemetri  was  present  when  the  complaint  was 
made,  and  I  angrily  asked  him  whether  it  was  true  that  he  had 
really  insulted  the  Governor,  and  what  the  deuce  he  meant  by 
it.  This  I  asked,  with  the  full  certainty  that  Dthemetri,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  would  deny  the  charge — would  swear  that  a 
"  wrong  construction  had  been  put  upon  his  words,  and  that 
nothing  was  further  from  his  thoughts,"  etc.,  etc.,  after  the 
manner  of  the  parliamentary  people ;  but  to  my  surprise  he 
very  plainly  answered  that  he  certainly  had  insulted  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  that  rather  grossly,  but,  he  said,  it  was  quite  neces- 
sary to  do  this,  in  order  to  "  strike  terror  and  inspire  respect." 
"  Terror  and  respect !  What  on  earth  do  you  mean  by 
that  nonsense  .''  "     "  Yes,  but  without  striking  terror  and  in- 

»3» 


132  KINGLAKE 

spiring  respect,  he  (Dthemetri)  would  never  be  able  to  force 
on  the  arrangements  for  my  journey,  and  Vossignoria  would 
be  kept  at  Gaza  for  a  month ! "  This  would  have  been 
awkward,  and  certainly  I  could  not  deny  that  poor  Dthe- 
metri had  succeeded  in  his  odd  plan  of  inspiring  respect,  for 
at  the  very  time  that  this  explanation  was  going  on  in  Italian, 
the  Governor  seemed  more  than  ever,  and  more  anxiously, 
disposed  to  overwhelm  me  with  assurances  of  good-will,  and 
proffers  of  his  best  services.  All  this  kindness,  or  promise 
of  kindness,  I  naturally  received  with  courtesy  —  a  courtesy 
that  greatly  perturbed  Dthemetri,  for  he  evidently  feared  that 
my  civility  would  undo  all  the  good  that  his  insults  had 
achieved. 

You  will  find,  I  think,  that  one  of  the  greatest  drawbacks  to 
the  pleasures  of  traveling  in  Asia,  is  the  being  obliged  more  or 
less  to  make  your  way  by  bullying.  It  is  true  that  your  own 
lips  are  not  soiled  by  the  utterance  of  all  the  mean  words  that 
are  spoken  for  you,  and  that  you  don't  even  know  of  the  sham 
threats,  and  the  false  promises,  and  the  vainglorious  boasts 
put  forth  by  your  dragoman ;  but  now  and  then  there  happens 
some  incident  of  the  sort  which  I  have  just  been  mentioning, 
which  forces  you  to  believe,  or  suspect,  that  your  dragoman 
is  habitually  fighting  your  battles  for  you  in  a  way  that  you 
can  hardly  bear  to  think  of. 

A  Caravanserai  is  not  ill  adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which 
it  is  meant ;  it  forms  the  four  sides  of  a  large  quadrangular 
court.  The  ground  floor  is  used  for  warehouses,  the  first  floor 
for  guests,  and  the  open  court  for  the  temporary  reception  of 
the  camels,  as  well  as  for  the  loading  and  unloading  of  their 
burdens,  and  the  transaction  of  mercantile  business  generally. 
The  apartments  used  for  the  guests  are  small  cells  opening 
into  a  corridor,  which  runs  round  the  four  sides  of  the  court. 

Whilst  I  lay  near  the  opening  of  my  cell,  looking  down  into 
the  court  below,  there  arrived  from  the  Desert  a  caravan,  that 
is,  a  large  assemblage  of  travelers  ;  it  consisted  chiefly  of  Mol- 
davian pilgrims,  who,  to  make  their  good  work  even  more  than 
complete,  had  begun  by  visiting  the  shrine  of  the  Virgin  in 
Egypt,  and  were  now  going  on  to  Jerusalem.  They  had  been 
overtaken  in  the  Desert  by  a  gale  of  wind,  which  so  drove  the 
sand,  and  raised  up  such  mountains  before  them,  that  their 


EOTHEN  133 

journey  had  been  terribly  perplexed  and  obstructed,  and  their 
provisions  (including  water,  the  most  precious  of  all)  had  been 
exhausted  long  before  they  reached  the  end  of  their  toilsome 
march.  They  were  sadly  wayworn.  The  arrival  of  the  cara- 
van drew  many  and  various  groups  into  the  court.  There  was 
the  Moldavian  pilgrim  with  his  sable  dress,  and  cap  of  fur, 
and  heavy  masses  of  bushy  hair  —  the  Turk  with  his  various 
and  brilliant  garments  —  the  Arab  superbly  stalking  under 
his  striped  blanket,  that  hung  like  royalty  upon  his  stately 
form  —  the  jetty  Ethiopian  in  his  slavish  frock  —  the  sleek 
smooth-faced  scribe  with  his  comely  pelisse,  and  his  silver 
inkbox  stuck  in  like  a  dagger  at  his  girdle.  And  mingled 
with  these  were  the  camels  —  some  standing  —  some  kneel- 
ing and  being  unladen  —  some  twisting  round  their  long 
necks,  and  gently  stealing  the  straw  from  out  of  their  own 
pack-saddles. 

In  a  couple  of  days  I  was  ready  to  start.  The  way  of  pro- 
viding for  the  passage  of  the  desert  is  this:  there  is  an  agent 
in  the  town  who  keeps  himself  in  communication  with  some 
of  the  desert  Arabs  that  are  hovering  within  a  day's  journey 
of  the  place ;  a  party  of  these,  upon  being  guaranteed  against 
seizure,  or  other  ill-treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  Governor, 
come  into  the  town,  bringing  with  them  the  number  of  camels 
which  you  require,  and  then  they  stipulate  for  a  certain  sum 
to  take  you  to  the  place  of  your  destination  in  a  given  time ; 
the  agreement  which  they  thus  enter  into  includes  a  safe 
conduct  through  their  country,  as  well  as  the  hire  of  the 
camels.  According  to  the  contract  made  with  me,  I  was  to 
reach  Cairo  within  ten  days  from  the  commencement  of  the 
journey.  I  had  four  camels,  one  for  my  baggage,  one  for 
each  of  my  servants,  and  one  for  myself.  Four  Arabs,  the 
owners  of  the  camels,  came  with  me  on  foot.  My  stores 
were  a  small  soldier's  tent,  two  bags  of  dried  bread  brought 
from  the  convent  at  Jerusalem,  and  a  couple  of  bottles  of  wine 
from  the  same  source  —  two  goatskins  filled  with  water,  tea, 
sugar,  a  cold  tongue,  and  (of  all  things  in  the  world)  a  jar  of 
Irish  butter,  which  Mysseri  had  purchased  from  some  mer- 
chant. There  was  also  a  small  sack  of  charcoal,  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  desert,  through  which  we  were  to  pass,  is 
destitute  of  fuel. 


134  KINGLAKE 

The  camel  kneels  to  receive  her  load,  and  for  a  while  she  will 
allow  the  packing  to  go  on  with  silent  resignation,  but  when 
she  begins  to  suspect  that  her  master  is  putting  more  than  a 
just  burden  upon  her  poor  hump,  she  turns  round  her  sup- 
ple neck  and  looks  sadly  upon  the  increasing  load,  and  then 
gently  remonstrates  against  the  wrong  with  the  sigh  of  a 
patient  wife ;  if  sighs  will  not  move  you,  she  can  weep ;  you 
soon  learn  to  pity,  and  soon  to  love  her  for  the  sake  of  her 
gentle  and  womanish  ways. 

You  cannot,  of  course,  put  an  English  or  any  other  riding 
saddle  upon  the  back  of  the  camel,  but  your  quilt,  or  carpet,  or 
whatever  you  carry  for  the  purpose  of  lying  on  at  night,  is 
folded  and  fastened  on  the  pack-saddle  upon  the  top  of  the 
hump,  and  on  this  you  ride,  or  rather  sit.  You  sit  as  a  man 
sits  on  a  chair  when  he  sits  astride  and  faces  the  back  of  it. 
I  made  an  improvement  on  this  plan  :  I  had  my  English  stir- 
rups strapped  on  to  the  cross-bars  of  the  pack-saddle,  and  thus 
by  gaining  rest  for  my  dangling  legs,  and  gaining,  too,  the 
power  of  varying  my  position  more  easily  than  I  could  other- 
wise have  done,  I  added  very  much  to  my  comfort.  Don't 
forget  to  do  as  I  did. 

The  camel,  like  the  elephant,  is  one  of  the  old-fashioned 
sort  of  animals  that  still  walk  along  upon  the  (now  nearly 
exploded)  plan  of  the  ancient  beasts  that  lived  before  the 
flood :  she  moves  forward  both  her  near  legs  at  the  same 
time,  and  then  awkwardly  swings  round  her  off  shoulder  and 
haunch,  so  as  to  repeat  the  maneuver  on  that  side ;  her 
pace,  therefore,  is  an  odd  disjointed  and  disjoining  sort  of 
movement,  that  is  rather  disagreeable  at  first,  but  you  soon 
grow  reconciled  to  it ;  the  height  to  which  you  are  raised  is 
of  great  advantage  to  you  in  passing  the  burning  sands  of 
the  desert,  for  the  air  at  such  a  distance  from  the  ground  is 
much  cooler  and  more  lively  than  that  which  circulates 
beneath. 

For  several  miles  beyond  Gaza  the  land,  which  had  been 
plentifully  watered  by  the  rains  of  the  last  week,  was  covered 
with  rich  verdure,  and  thickly  jeweled  with  meadow  flowers,  so 
fresh  and  fragrant  that  I  began  to  grow  almost  uneasy  —  to 
fancy  that  the  very  desert  was  receding  before  me,  and  that 
the  long-desired  adventure  of  passing  its  "  burning  sands  " 


EOTHEN  135 

was  to  end  in  a  mere  ride  across  a  field.  But  as  I  advanced 
the  true  character  of  the  country  began  to  display  itself  with 
sufficient  clearness  to  dispel  my  apprehensions,  and  before 
the  close  of  my  first  day's  journey  I  had  the  gratification  of 
finding  that  I  was  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a  tract  of  real 
sand,  and  had  nothing  at  all  to  complain  of,  except  that  there 
peeped  forth  at  intervals  a  few  isolated  blades  of  grass,  and 
many  of  those  stunted  shrubs  which  are  the  accustomed  food 
of  the  camel. 

Before  sunset  I  came  up  with  an  encampment  of  Arabs 
(the  encampment  from  which  my  camels  had  been  brought), 
and  my  tent  was  pitched  amongst  theirs.  I  was  now  amongst 
the  true  Bedouins ;  almost  every  man  of  this  race  closely 
resembles  his  brethren ;  almost  every  man  has  large  and 
finely  formed  features,  but  his  face  is  so  thoroughly  stripped 
of  flesh,  and  the  white  folds  from  his  head-gear  fall  down  by 
his  haggard  cheeks  so  much  in  the  burial  fashion,  that  he 
looks  quite  sad  and  ghastly ;  his  large  dark  orbs  roll  slowly 
and  solemnly  over  the  white  of  his  deep-set  eyes  —  his  coun- 
tenance shows  painful  thought  and  long-suffering  —  the  suf- 
fering of  one  fallen  from  a  high  estate.  His  gait  is  strangely 
majestic,  and  he  marches  along  with  his  simple  blanket  as 
though  he  were  wearing  the  purple.  His  common  talk  is  a 
series  of  piercing  screams  and  cries,^  more  painful  to  the  ear 
than  the  most  excruciating  fine  music  that  I  ever  endured. 

The  Bedouin  women  are  not  treasured  up  like  the  wives 
and  daughters  of  other  Orientals,  and  indeed  they  seemed  al- 
most entirely  free  from  the  restraints  imposed  by  jealousy ; 
the  feint  which  they  made  of  concealing  their  faces  from  me 
was  always  slight ;  they  never,  I  think,  wore  the  yashmak 
properly  fixed ;  when  they  first  saw  me,  they  used  to  hold  up 
a  part  of  their  drapery  with  one  hand  across  their  faces,  but 
they  seldom  persevered  very  steadily  in  subjecting  me  to  this 
privation.  Unhappy  beings !  they  were  sadly  plain.  The 
awful  haggardness  which  gave  something  of  character  to  the 
faces  of  the  men  was  sheer  ugliness  in  the  poor  women.  It 
is  a  great  shame,  but  the  truth  is  that  except  when  we  refer 

^  Milnes  cleverly  goes  to  the  French  for  the  exact  word  which  conveys 
the  impression  produced  by  the  voice  of  the  Arabs,  and  calls  them  "  un 
peuple  criard." 


136  KINGLAKE 

to  the  beautiful  devotion  of  the  mother  to  her  child,  all  the 
fine  things  we  say  and  think  about  woman  apply  only  to 
those  who  are  tolerably  good-looking  or  graceful.  These 
Arab  women  were  so  plain  and  clumsy  that  they  seemed  to 
me  to  be  fit  for  nothing  but  another  and  a  better  world. 
They  may  have  been  good  women  enough,  so  far  as  relates 
to  the  exercise  of  the  minor  virtues,  but  they  had  so  grossly 
neglected  the  prime  duty  of  looking  pretty  in  this  transitory 
life,  that  I  could  not  at  all  forgive  them ;  they  seemed  to  feel 
the  weight  of  their  guilt  and  to  be  truly  and  humbly  penitent. 
I  had  the  complete  command  of  their  affections,  for  at  any 
moment  I  could  make  their  young  hearts  bound,  and  their 
old  hearts  jump,  by  offering  a  handful  of  tobacco,  and  yet, 
believe  me,  it  was  not  in  the  first  soiree  that  my  store  of 
latakia  was  exhausted ! 

The  Bedouin  women  have  no  religion ;  this  is  partly  the 
cause  of  their  clumsiness ;  perhaps,  if  from  Christian  girls 
they  would  learn  how  to  pray,  their  souls  might  become  more 
gentle,  and  their  limbs  be  clothed  with  grace. 

You  who  are  going  into  their  country  have  a  direct  per- 
sonal interest  in  knowing  something  about  "  Arab  hospital- 
ity "  ;  but  the  deuce  of  it  is,  that  the  poor  fellows  with  whom 
I  have  happened  to  pitch  my  tent  were  scarcely  ever  in  a 
condition  to  exercise  that  magnanimous  virtue  with  much 
^clat;  indeed,  Mysseri's  canteen  generally  enabled  me  to 
outdo  my  hosts  in  the  matter  of  entertainment.  They  were 
always  courteous,  however,  and  were  never  backward  in  offer- 
ing me  the  "  youart,"  or  curds  and  whey,  which  is  the  princi- 
pal delicacy  to  be  found  amongst  the  wandering  tribes. 

Practically,  I  think,  Childe  Harold  would  have  found  it  a 
dreadful  bore  to  make  "the  desert  his  dwelling-place,"  for  at 
all  events  if  he  adopted  the  life  of  the  Arabs,  he  would  have 
tasted  no  solitude.  The  tents  are  partitioned,  not  so  as  to 
divide  the  Childe  and  the  "fair  spirit,"  who  is  his  "minister," 
from  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  so  as  to  separate  the  twenty 
or  thirty  brown  men  that  sit  screaming  in  the  one  compart- 
ment from  the  fifty  or  sixty  brown  women  and  children  that 
scream  and  squeak  in  the  other.  If  you  adopt  the  Arab  life 
for  the  sake  of  seclusion,  you  will  be  horribly  disappointed, 
for  you  will  find  yourself  in  perpetual  contact  with  a  mass  of 


EOTHEN  137 

hot  fellow  creatures.  It  is  true  that  all  who  are  inmates  of 
the  same  tent  are  related  to  each  other,  but  I  am  not  quite 
sure  that  that  circumstance  adds  much  to  the  charm  of  such 
a  life.  At  all  events,  before  you  finally  determine  to  become 
an  Arab,  try  a  gentle  experiment :  take  one  of  those  small, 
shabby  houses  in  May  Fair,  and  shut  yourself  up  in  it  with 
forty  or  fifty  shrill  cousins  for  a  couple  of  weeks  in  July. 

In  passing  the  desert  you  will  find  your  Arabs  wanting  to 
start  and  to  rest  at  all  sorts  of  odd  times ;  they  like,  for  in- 
stance, to  be  off  at  one  in  the  morning,  and  to  rest  during  the 
whole  of  the  afternoon ;  you  must  not  give  way  to  their 
wishes  in  this  respect ;  I  tried  their  plan  once,  and  found  it 
very  harassing  and  unwholesome.  An  ordinary  tent  can  give 
you  very  little  protection  against  heat,  for  the  fire  strikes 
fiercely  through  single  canvas,  and  you  soon  find  that  whilst 
you  lie  crouching,  and  striving  to  hide  yourself  from  the  blaz- 
ing face  of  the  sun,  his  power  is  harder  to  bear  than  it  is 
where  you  boldly  defy  him  from  the  airy  heights  of  your 
camel. 

It  had  been  arranged  with  my  Arabs,  that  they  were  to 
bring  with  them  all  the  food  which  they  would  want  for 
themselves  during  the  passage  of  the  desert,  but  as  we 
rested  at  the  end  of  the  first  day's  journey,  by  the  side  of 
an  Arab  encampment,  my  camel  men  found  all  that  they 
required  for  that  night  in  the  tents  of  their  own  brethren. 
On  the  evening  of  the  second  day,  however,  just  before  we 
encamped  for  the  night,  my  four  Arabs  came  to  Dthemetri, 
and  formally  announced  that  they  had  not  brought  with  them 
one  atom  of  food,  and  that  they  looked  entirely  to  my  sup- 
plies for  their  daily  bread.  This  was  awkward  intelligence  ; 
we  were  now  just  two  days  deep  in  the  desert,  and  I  had 
brought  with  me  no  more  bread  than  might  be  reasonably 
required  for  myself  and  my  European  attendants.  I  believed 
at  the  moment  (for  it  seemed  likely  enough)  that  the  men  had 
really  mistaken  the  terms  of  the  arrangement,  and  feeling 
that  the  bore  of  being  put  upon  half  rations  would  be  a  less 
evil  (and  even  to  myself  a  less  inconvenience)  than  the  star- 
vation of  my  Arabs,  I  at  once  told  Dthemetri  to  assure  them 
that  my  bread  should  be  equally  shared  with  all.  Dthemetri, 
however,  did  not  approve  of  this  concession ;  he  assured  me 


138  KINGLAKE 

quite  positively  that  the  Arabs  thoroughly  understood  the 
agreement,  and  that  if  they  were  now  without  food,  they  had 
wilfully  brought  themselves  into  this  strait  for  the  wretched 
purpose  of  bettering  their  bargain  by  the  value  of  a  few 
paras'  worth  of  bread.  This  suggestion  made  me  look  at  the 
affair  in  a  new  light;  I  should  have  been  glad  enough  to  put 
up  with  the  slight  privation  to  which  my  concession  would 
subject  me,  and  could  have  borne  to  witness  the  semi- 
starvation  of  poor  Dthemetri  with  a  fine,  philosophical  calm, 
but  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  scheme,  if  scheme  it  were,  had 
something  of  audacity  in  it,  and  was  well  enough  calculated 
to  try  the  extent  of  my  softness ;  I  well  knew  the  danger  of 
allowing  such  a  trial  to  result  in  a  conclusion  that  I  was  one 
who  might  be  easily  managed;  and  therefore,  after  thoroughly 
satisfying  myself  from  Dthemetri's  clear  and  repeated  asser- 
tions, that  the  Arabs  had  really  understood  the  arrangement, 
I  determined  that  they  should  not  now  violate  it  by  taking 
advantage  of  my  position  in  the  midst  of  their  big  desert ;  so 
I  desired  Dthemetri  to  tell  them  that  they  should  touch  no 
bread  of  mine.  We  stopped,  and  the  tent  was  pitched ;  the 
Arabs  came  to  me,  and  prayed  loudly  for  bread ;  I  refused 
them. 

"  Then  we  die  ! " 

"God's  will  be  done." 

I  gave  the  Arabs  to  understand,  that  I  regretted  their  per- 
ishing by  hunger,  but  that  I  should  bear  this  calmly,  like  any 
other  misfortune  not  my  own  —  that  in  short  I  was  happily 
resigned  to  their  fate.  The  men  would  have  talked  a  great 
deal,  but  they  were  under  the  disadvantage  of  addressing  me 
through  a  hostile  interpreter ;  they  looked  hard  upon  my 
face,  but  they  found  no  hope  there,  so  at  last  they  retired,  as 
they  pretended,  to  lay  them  down  and  die. 

In  about  ten  minutes  from  this  time,  I  found  that  the 
Arabs  were  busily  cooking  their  bread.  Their  pretense  of 
having  brought  no  food  was  false,  and  was  only  invented  for 
the  purpose  of  saving  it.  They  had  a  good  bag  of  meal 
which  they  had  contrived  to  stow  away  under  the  baggage, 
upon  one  of  the  camels,  in  such  a  way  as  to  escape  notice. 
In  Europe  the  detection  of  a  scheme  like  this  would  have 
occasioned  a  disagreeable  feeling  between  the  master  and  the 


EOTHEN  139 

delinquent,  but  you  would  no  more  recoil  from  an  Oriental, 
on  account  of  a  matter  of  this  sort,  than  in  England  you 
would  reject  a  horse  that  had  tried  and  failed  to  throw  you. 
Indeed,  I  felt  quite  good-humoredly  toward  my  Arabs,  be- 
cause they  had  so  woefully  failed  in  their  wretched  attempt, 
and  because,  as  it  turned  out,  I  had  done  what  was  right ; 
they  too,  poor  fellows,  evidently  began  to  like  me  immensely, 
on  account  of  the  hard-heartedness  which  had  enabled  me  to 
baffle  their  scheme. 

The  Arabs  adhere  to  those  ancestral  principles  of  bread- 
baking  which  have  been  sanctioned  by  the  experience  of  ages. 
The  very  first  baker  of  bread  that  ever  lived  must  have  done 
his  work  exactly  as  the  Arab  does  at  this  day.  He  takes 
some  meal  and  holds  it  out  in  the  hollow  of  his  hands,  whilst 
his  comrade  pours  over  it  a  few  drops  of  water;  he  then 
mashes  up  the  moistened  flour  into  a  paste,  which  he  pulls 
into  small  pieces,  and  thrusts  into  the  embers ;  his  way  of 
baking  exactly  resembles  the  craft  or  mystery  of  roasting 
chestnuts,  as  practised  by  children;  there  is  the  same  pru- 
dence and  circumspection  in  choosing  a  good  berth  for  the 
morsel  —  the  same  enterprise  and  self-sacrificing  valor  in 
pulling  it  out  with  the  fingers. 

The  manner  of  my  daily  march  was  this.  At  about  an 
hour  before  dawn,  I  rose,  and  made  the  most  of  about  a  pint 
of  water  which  I  allowed  myself  for  washing.  Then  I  break- 
fasted upon  tea  and  bread.  As  soon  as  the  beasts  were 
loaded,  I  mounted  my  camel  and  pressed  forward ;  my  poor 
Arabs  being  on  foot  would  sometimes  moan  with  fatigue,  and 
pray  for  rest,  but  I  was  anxious  to  enable  them  to  perform 
their  contract  for  bringing  me  to  Cairo  within  the  stipulated 
time,  and  I  did  not  therefore  allow  a  halt  until  the  evening 
came.  About  midday,  or  soon  after,  Mysseri  used  to  bring 
up  his  camel  alongside  of  mine,  and  supply  me  with  a  piece 
of  bread  softened  in  water  (for  it  was  dried  hard  like  board), 
and  also  (as  long  as  it  lasted)  with  a  piece  of  the  tongue ; 
after  this  there  came  into  my  hand  (how  well  I  remember  it !) 
the  little  tin  cup  half  filled  with  wine  and  water. 

As  long  as  you  are  journeying  in  the  interior  of  the  desert 
you  have  no  particular  point  to  make  for  as  your  resting- 
place.     The  endless  sands  yield  nothing  but  small  stunted 


I40  KINGLAKE 

shrubs  —  even  these  fail  after  the  first  two  or  three  days,  and 
from  that  time  you  pass  over  broad  plains  —  you  pass  over 
newly  reared  hills  —  you  pass  through  valleys  that  the  storm 
of  the  last  week  has  dug,  and  the  hills  and  the  valleys  are 
sand,  sand,  sand,  still  sand,  and  only  sand,  and  sand,  and  sand 
again.  The  earth  is  so  samely,  that  your  eyes  turn  toward 
heaven  —  toward  heaven,  I  mean,  in  the  sense  of  sky.  You 
look  to  the  Sun,  for  he  is  your  taskmaster,  and  by  him  you 
know  the  measure  of  the  work  that  you  have  done,  and 
the  measure  of  the  work  that  remains  for  you  to  do ; 
he  comes  when  you  strike  your  tent  in  the  early  morning, 
and  then,  for  the  first  hour  of  the  day,  as  you  move  forward 
on  your  camel,  he  stands  at  your  near  side,  and  makes  you 
know  that  the  whole  day's  toil  is  before  you  —  then  for  a 
while  and  a  long  while  you  see  him  no  more,  for  you  are 
veiled,  and  shrouded,  and  dare  not  look  upon  the  greatness 
of  his  glory,  but  you  know  where  he  strides  overhead,  by  the 
touch  of  his  flaming  sword.  No  words  are  spoken,  but  your 
Arabs  moan,  your  camels  sigh,  your  skin  glows,  your 
shoulders  ache,  and  for  sights  you  see  the  pattern  and  the 
web  of  the  silk  that  veils  your  eyes,  and  the  glare  of  the 
outer  light.  Time  labors  on  —  your  skin  glows,  and  your 
shoulders  ache,  your  Arabs  moan,  your  camels  sigh,  and  you 
see  the  same  pattern  in  the  silk,  and  the  same  glare  of  light 
beyond  ;  but  conquering  Time  marches  on,  and  by  and  by  the 
descending  Sun  has  compassed  the  heaven,  and  now  softly 
touches  your  right  arm,  and  throws  your  lank  shadow  over 
the  sand,  right  along  on  the  way  for  Persia ;  then  again  you 
look  upon  his  face,  for  his  power  is  all  veiled  in  his  beauty, 
and  the  redness  of  flames  has  became  the  redness  of  roses  — 
the  fair,  wavy  cloud  that  fled  in  the  morning  now  comes  to 
his  sight  once  more  —  comes  blushing,  yet  still  comes  on  — 
comes  burning  with  blushes,  yet  hastens,  and  clings  to  his 
side. 

Then  arrives  your  time  for  resting.  The  world  about  you 
is  all  your  own,  and  there,  where  you  will,  you  pitch  your 
solitary  tent ;  there  is  no  living  thing  to  dispute  your  choice. 
When  at  last  the  spot  had  been  fixed  upon,  and  we  came  to 
a  halt,  one  of  the  Arabs  would  touch  the  chest  of  my  camel, 
and  utter  at  the  same  time  a  peculiar  gurgling  sound ;  the 


EOTHEN  141 

beast  instantly  understood,  and  obeyed  the  sign,  and  slowly 
sank  under  me  till  she  brought  her  body  to  a  level  with  the 
ground ;  then  gladly  enough  I  alighted ;  the  rest  of  the 
camels  were  unloaded,  and  turned  loose  to  browse  upon 
the  shrubs  of  the  desert,  where  shrubs  there  were,  or  where 
these  failed,  to  wait  for  the  small  quantity  of  food  which  was 
allowed  them  out  of  our  stores. 

My  servants,  helped  by  the  Arabs,  busied  themselves  in 
pitching  the  tent  and  kindling  the  fire.  Whilst  this  was 
doing  I  used  to  walk  away  towards  the  east,  confiding  in  the 
print  of  my  foot  as  a  guide  for  my  return.  Apart  from  the 
cheering  voices  of  my  attendants,  I  could  better  know  and 
feel  the  loneliness  of  the  desert.  The  influence  of  such 
scenes,  however,  was  not  of  a  softening  kind,  but  filled  me 
rather  with  a  sort  of  childish  exultation  in  the  self-sufficiency 
which  enabled  me  to  stand  thus  alone  in  the  wideness  of 
Asia  —  a  short-lived  pride,  for  wherever  man  wanders,  he 
still  remains  tethered  by  the  chain  that  links  him  to  his  kind ; 
and  so  when  the  night  closed  round  me,  I  began  to  return  — 
to  return  as  it  were  to  my  own  gate.  Reaching  at  last  some 
high  ground,  I  could  see,  and  see  with  delight,  the  fire  of  our 
small  encampment,  and  when  at  last  I  regained  the  spot,  it 
seemed  to  me  a  very  home  that  had  sprung  up  for  me  in  the 
midst  of  these  solitudes.  My  Arabs  were  busy  with  their 
bread,  —  Mysseri  rattling  tea-cups,  —  the  little  .kettle  with 
her  odd,  old-maidish  look  sat  humming  away  old  songs  about 
England,  and  two  or  three  yards  from  the  fire  my  tent  stood 
prim  and  tight  with  open  portal,  and  with  welcoming  look 
like  "the  old  armchair"  of  our  Lyrist's  "Sweet  Lady 
Anne." 

At  the  beginning  of  my  journey,  the  night-breeze  blew 
coldly  ;  when  that  happened,  the  dry  sand  was  heaped  up 
outside,  round  the  skirts  of  the  tent,  and  so  the  Wind  that 
everywhere  else  could  sweep  as  he  listed  along  these  dreary 
plains  was  forced  to  turn  aside  in  his  course,  and  make  way, 
as  he  ought,  for  the  Englishman.  Then  within  my  tent  there 
were  heaps  of  luxuries,  —  dining-rooms,  dressing-rooms,  — 
libraries,  bedrooms,  drawing-rooms,  oratories,  all  crowded 
into  the  space  of  a  hearth-rug.  The  first  night,  I  remember, 
with  my  books  and  maps  about  me,  I  wanted  light,  —  they 


142  KINGLAKE 

brought  me  a  taper,  and  immediately  from  out  of  the  silent 
desert  there  rushed  in  a  flood  of  life,  unseen  before.  Mon- 
sters of  moths  of  all  shapes  and  hues,  that  never  before  per- 
haps had  looked  upon  the  shining  of  a  flame,  now  madly 
thronged  into  my  tent,  and  dashed  through  the  fire  of  the 
candle  till  they  fairly  extinguished  it  with  their  burning  limbs. 
Those  who  had  failed  in  attaining  this  martyrdom,  suddenly 
became  serious  and  clung  despondently  to  the  canvas. 

By  and  by  there  was  brought  to  me  the  fragrant  tea,  and 
big  masses  of  scorched  and  scorching  toast,  that  minded  me 
of  old  Eton  days,  and  the  butter  that  had  come  all  the  way 
to  me  in  this  desert  of  Asia,  from  out  of  that  poor,  dear, 
starving  Ireland.  I  feasted  like  a  king,  — like  four  kings,  — 
like  a  boy  in  the  fourth  form. 

When  the  cold,  sullen  morning  dawned,  and  my  people 
began  to  load  the  camels,  I  always  felt  loath  to  give  back  to 
the  waste  this  little  spot  of  ground  that  had  glowed  for  a 
while  with  the  cheerfulness  of  a  human  dwelling.  One  by 
one  the  cloaks,  the  saddles,  the  baggage,  the  hundred  things 
that  strewed  the  ground,  and  made  it  look  so  familiar  —  all 
these  were  taken  away,  and  laid  upon  the  camels.  A  speck 
in  the  broad  tracts  of  Asia  remained  still  impressed  with  the 
mark  of  patent  portmanteaus,  and  the  heels  of  London  boots; 
the  embers  of  the  fire  lay  black  and  cold  upon  the  sand,  and 
these  were  the  signs  we  left. 

My  tent  was  spared  to  the  last,  but  when  all  else  was 
ready  for  the  start,  then  came  its  fall ;  the  pegs  were  drawn, 
the  canvas  shivered,  and  in  less  than  a  minute  there  was 
nothing  that  remained  of  my  genial  home  but  only  a  pole 
and  a  bundle.  The  encroaching  Englishman  was  off,  and 
instant,  upon  the  fall  of  the  canvas,  like  an  owner  who  had 
waited  and  watched,  the  Genius  of  the  Desert  stalked  in. 

To  servants,  as  I  suppose  to  any  other  Europeans  not 
much  accustomed  to  amuse  themselves  by  fancy,  or  memory, 
it  often  happens  that  after  a  few  days'  journeying  the  loneli- 
ness of  the  desert  will  become  frightfully  oppressive.  Upon 
my  poor  fellows  the  excess  of  melancholy  came  heavy,  and 
all  at  once,  as  a  blow  from  above ;  they  bent  their  necks, 
and  bore  it  as  best  they  could  ;  but  their  joy  was  great  on  the 
fifth  day,  when  we  came  to  an  Oasis  called  Gatieth,  for  here 


EOTHEN  143 

we  found  encamped  a  caravan  (that  is  an  assemblage  of 
travelers)  from  Cairo.  The  Orientals  living  in  cities  never 
pass  the  desert  except  in  this  way ;  many  will  wait  for 
weeks,  and  even  for  months,  until  a  sufficient  number  of 
persons  can  be  found  ready  to  undertake  the  journey  at  the 
same  time  —  until  the  flock  of  sheep  is  big  enough  to  fancy 
itself  a  match  for  wolves.  They  could  not,  I  think,  really 
secure  themselves  against  any  serious  danger  by  this  contri- 
vance, for  though  they  have  arms,  they  are  so  little  accus- 
tomed to  use  them,  and  so  utterly  unorganized,  that  they 
never  could  make  good  their  resistance  to  robbers  of  the 
slightest  respectability.  It  is  not  of  the  Bedouins  that  such 
travelers  are  afraid,  for  the  safe-conduct  granted  by  the 
chief  of  the  ruling  tribe  is  never,  I  believe,  violated ;  but  it  is 
said  that  there  are  deserters  and  scamps  of  various  sorts  who 
hover  about  the  skirts  of  the  desert,  particularly  on  the 
Cairo  side,  and  are  anxious  to  succeed  to  the  property  of  any 
poor  devils  whom  they  may  find  more  weak  and  defenseless 
than  themselves. 

These  people  from  Cairo  professed  to  be  amazed  at  the 
ludicrous  disproportion  between  their  numerical  forces  and 
mine.  They  could  not  understand,  and  they  wanted  to  know 
by  what  strange  privilege  it  is  that  an  Englishman  with  a 
brace  of  pistols  and  a  couple  of  servants  rides  safely  across 
the  desert,  whilst  they,  the  natives  of  the  neighboring  cities, 
are  forced  to  travel  in  troops,  or  rather  in  herds.  One  of 
them  got  a  few  minutes  of  private  conversation  with  Dthe- 
metri,  and  ventured  to  ask  him  anxiously,  whether  the 
English  did  not  travel  under  the  protection  of  Evil  Demons. 
I  had  previously  known  (from  Methley,  I  think,  who  traveled 
in  Persia)  that  this  notion,  so  conducive  to  the  safety  of  our 
countrymen,  is  generally  prevalent  amongst  Orientals ;  it 
owes  its  origin  partly  to  the  strong  wilfulness  of  the  English 
gentleman  (which  not  being  backed  by  any  visible  authority, 
either  civil  or  military,  seems  perfectly  superhuman  to  the 
soft  Asiatic),  but  partly  too  to  the  magic  of  the  Banking 
system,  by  force  of  which  the  wealthy  traveler  will  make  all 
his  journeys,  without  carrying  a  handful  of  coin,  and  yet  when 
he  arrives  at  a  city,  will  rain  down  showers  of  gold.  The 
theory  is  that  the  English  traveler  has  committed  some  sin 


144  KINGLAKE 

against  God  and  his  conscience,  and  that  for  this,  the  Evil 
Spirit  has  hold  of  him  and  drives  him  from  his  home,  like  a 
victim  of  the  old  Grecian  Furies,  and  forces  him  to  travel  over 
countries  far  and  strange,  and  most  chiefly  over  deserts  and 
desolate  places,  and  to  stand  upon  the  sites  of  cities  that 
once  were,  and  are  now  no  more,  and  to  grope  among  the 
tombs  of  dead  men.  Often  enough  there  is  something  of 
truth  in  this  notion;  often  enough  the  wandering  English- 
man is  guilty  (if  guilt  it  be)  of  some  pride,  or  some  ambition, 
big  or  small,  imperial  or  parochial,  which  being  offended  has 
made  the  lone  places  more  tolerable  than  ballrooms  to  him, 
a  sinner. 

I  can  understand  the  sort  of  amazement  of  the  Orientals  at 
the  scantiness  of  the  retinue  with  which  an  Englishman  passes 
the  desert,  for  I  was  somewhat  struck  myself  when  I  saw  one 
of  my  countrymen  making  his  way  across  the  wilderness  in 
this  simple  style.  At  first  there  was  a  mere  moving  speck  in 
the  horizon  ;  my  party,  of  course,  became  all  alive  with  ex- 
citement, and  there  were  many  surmises ;  soon  it  appeared 
that  three  laden  camels  were  approaching,  and  that  two  of 
them  carried  riders ;  in  a  little  while  we  saw  that  one  of  the 
riders  wore  the  European  dress,  and  at  last  the  travelers 
were  pronounced  to  be  an  English  gentleman  and  his  ser- 
vant ;  by  their  side  there  were  a  couple,  I  think,  of  Arabs  on 
foot,  and  this  was  the  whole  party. 

You,  —  you  love  sailing,  —  in  returning  from  a  cruise  to 
the  English  coast,  you  see  often  enough  a  fisherman's  humble 
boat  far  away  from  all  shores,  with  an  ugly  black  sky  above, 
and  an  angry  sea  beneath, —  you  watch  the  grizzly  old  man 
at  the  helm  carrying  his  craft  with  strange  skill  through  the 
turmoil  of  waters,  and  the  boy,  supple-limbed,  yet  weather- 
worn already,  and  with  steady  eyes  that  look  through  the 
blast, —  you  see  him  understanding  commandments  from  the 
jerk  of  his  father's  white  eyebrow,  —  now  belaying,  and  now 
letting  go, — now  scrunching  himself  down  into  mere  ballast, 
or  bailing  out  Death  with  a  pipkin.  Stale  enough  is  the  sight, 
and  yet  when  I  see  it  I  always  stare  anew,  and  with  a  kind 
of  Titanic  exultation,  because  that  a  poor  boat,  with  the  brain 
of  a  man  and  the  hands  of  a  boy  on  board,  can  match  herself 
so  bravely  against  black  Heaven  and  Ocean  ;  well,  so  when 


EOTHEN  145 

you  have  traveled  for  days  and  days,  over  an  Eastern  desert, 
without  meeting  the  likeness  of  a  human  being,  and  then  at 
last  see  an  English  shooting-jacket  and  his  servant  come 
listlessly  slouching  along  from  out  the  forward  horizon,  you 
stare  at  the  wide  unproportion  between  this  slender  company, 
and  the  boundless  plains  of  sand  through  which  they  are 
keeping  their  way. 

This  Englishman,  as  I  afterward  found,  was  a  military  man 
returning  to  his  country  from  India,  and  crossing  the  desert 
at  this  part  in  order  to  go  through  Palestine.  As  for  me,  I 
had  come  pretty  straight  from  England,  and  so  here  we  met 
in  the  wilderness  at  about  half-way  from  our  respective  start- 
ing-points. As  we  approached  each  other,  it  became  with  me 
a  question  whether  we  should  speak ;  I  thought  it  likely  that 
the  stranger  would  accost  me,  and  in  the  event  of  his  doing 
so  I  was  quite  ready  to  be  as  sociable  and  as  chatty  as  I  could 
be,  according  to  my  nature,  but  still  I  could  not  think  of  any- 
thing in  particular  that  I  had  to  say  to  him  ;  of  course  among 
civilized  people  the  not  having  anything  to  say  is  no  excuse  at 
all  for  not  speaking,  but  I  was  shy  and  indolent,  and  I  felt  no 
great  wish  to  stop  and  talk  like  a  morning  visitor,  in  the  midst 
of  those  broad  solitudes.  The  traveler,  perhaps,  felt  as  I  did, 
for  except  that  we  lifted  our  hands  to  our  caps  and  waved  our 
arms  in  courtesy,  we  passed  each  other  as  if  we  had  passed  in 
Bond  Street.  Our  attendants,  however,  were  not  to  be  cheated 
of  the  delight  that  they  felt  in  speaking  to  new  listeners  and 
hearing  fresh  voices  once  more.  The  masters,  therefore,  had 
no  sooner  passed  each  other  than  their  respective  servants 
quietly  stopped  and  entered  into  conversation.  As  soon  as 
my  camel  found  that  her  companions  were  not  following  her, 
she  caught  the  social  feeling  and  refused  to  go  on.  I  felt  the 
absurdity  of  the  situation  and  determined  to  accost  the  stran- 
ger, if  only  to  avoid  the  awkwardness  of  remaining  stuck  fast 
in  the  desert,  whilst  our  servants  were  amusing  themselves. 
When  with  this  intent  I  turned  round  my  camel,  I  found  that 
the  gallant  officer  who  had  passed  me  by  about  thirty  or  forty 
yards  was  exactly  in  the  same  predicament  as  myself.  I  put 
my  now  willing  camel  In  motion  and  rode  up  toward  the 
stranger,  who,  seeing  this,  followed  my  example  and  came 
forward  to  meet  me.  He  was  the  first  to  speak  ;  he  was  much 
25 


146  KINGLAKE 

too  courteous  to  address  me  as  if  he  admitted  of  the  possibility 
of  my  wishing  to  accost  him  from  any  feeling  of  mere  socia- 
bility, or  civilian-like  love  of  vain  talk ;  on  the  contrary,  he  at 
once  attributed  my  advances  to  a  laudable  wish  of  acquiring 
statistical  information,  and  accordingly,  when  we  got  within 
speaking  distance,  he  said,  "  I  dare  say  you  wish  to  know  how 
the  Plague  is  going  on  at  Cairo?"  and  then  he  went  on  to 
say,  he  regretted  that  his  information  did  not  enable  him  to 
give  me  in  numbers  a  perfectly  accurate  statement  of  the 
daily  deaths ;  he  afterwards  talked  pleasantly  enough  upon 
other  and  less  ghastly  subjects.  I  thought  him  manly  and 
intelligent ;  a  worthy  one  of  the  few  thousand  strong  English- 
men to  whom  the  Empire  of  India  is  committed. 

The  night  after  the  meeting  with  the  people  of  the  caravan, 
Dthemetri,  alarmed  by  their  warnings,  took  upon  himself  to 
keep  watch  all  night  in  the  tent ;  no  robbers  came  except  a 
jackal  that  poked  his  nose  into  my  tent  from  some  motive 
of  rational  curiosity ;  Dthemetri  did  not  shoot  him  for  fear  of 
waking  me.  These  brutes  swarm  in  every  part  of  Syria ;  and 
there  were  many  of  them  even  in  the  midst  of  the  void  sands, 
that  would  seem  to  give  such  poor  promise  of  food ;  I  can 
hardly  tell  what  prey  they  could  be  hoping  for,  unless  it  were 
that  they  might  find,  now  and  then,  the  carcass  of  some  camel 
that  had  died  on  the  journey.  They  do  not  marshal  them- 
selves into  great  packs,  like  the  wild  dogs  of  Eastern  cities,  but 
follow  their  prey  in  families,  like  the  place  hunters  of  Europe ; 
their  voices  are  frightfully  like  to  the  shouts  and  cries  of  human 
beings ;  if  you  lie  awake  in  your  tent  at  night,  you  are  almost 
continually  hearing  some  hungry  family  as  it  sweeps  along  in 
full  cry ;  you  hear  the  exulting  scream  with  which  the  saga- 
cious dam  first  winds  the  carrion,  and  the  shrill  response  of  the 
unanimous  cubs  as  they  snuff  the  tainted  air —  "Wha  !  wha  ! 
wha  !  wha !  wha  !  wha !  —  Whose  gift  is  it  in,  mamma  .-"  " 

Once,  during  this  passage,  my  Arabs  lost  their  way  among 
the  hills  of  loose  sand  that  surrounded  us,  but  after  a  while  we 
were  lucky  enough  to  recover  our  right  line  of  march.  The 
same  day  we  fell  in  with  a  Sheik,  the  head  of  a  family  that 
actually  dwells  at  no  great  distance  from  this  part  of  the 
desert  during  nine  months  of  the  year.  The  man  carried  a 
matchlock,  of  which  he  was  very  proud ;  we  stopped  and  sat 


EOTHEN  147 

down,  and  rested  awhile,  for  the  sake  of  a  little  talk ;  there 
was  much  that  I  should  have  liked  to  ask  this  man,  but  he 
could  not  understand  Dthemetri's  language,  and  the  process 
of  getting  at  his  knowledge  by  double  interpretation  through 
my  Arabs  was  unsatisfactory.  I  discovered,  however  (and 
my  Arabs  knew  of  that  fact),  that  this  man  and  his  family 
lived  habitually,  for  nine  months  of  the  year,  without  touching 
or  seeing  either  bread  or  water.  The  stunted  shrub  growing 
at  intervals  through  the  sand  in  this  part  of  the  desert  is  fed 
by  the  dews  which  fall  at  night,  and  enables  the  camel  mares 
to  yield  a  little  milk,  which  furnishes  the  sole  food  and  drink 
of  their  owner  and  his  people.  During  the  other  three  months, 
(the  hottest  of  the  months,  I  suppose)  even  this  resource  fails, 
and  then  the  Sheik  and  his  people  are  forced  to  pass  into 
another  district.  You  would  ask  me  why  the  man  should  not 
remain  always  in  that  district  which  supplies  him  with  water 
during  three  months  of  the  year,  but  I  don't  know  enough  of 
Arab  politics  to  answer  the  question.  The  Sheik  was  not  a 
good  specimen  of  the  effect  produced  by  the  diet  to  which  he 
is  subjected  ;  he  was  very  small,  very  spare,  and  sadly  shriveled 
—  a  poor,  overroasted  snipe,  a  mere  cinder  of  a  man  ;  I  made 
him  sit  down  by  my  side,  and  gave  him  a  piece  of  bread  and 
a  cup  of  water  from  out  of  my  goatskins.  This  was  not  very 
tempting  drink  to  look  at,  for  it  had  become  turbid,  and  was 
deeply  reddened  by  some  coloring  matter  contained  in  the 
skins,  but  it  kept  its  sweetness  and  tasted  like  a  strong  decoc- 
tion of  Russia  leather.  The  Sheik  sipped  this,  drop  by  drop, 
with  ineffable  relish,  and  rolled  his  eyes  solemnly  round  be- 
tween every  draft,  as  though  the  drink  were  the  drink  of 
the  Prophet,  and  had  come  from  the  seventh  heaven. 

An  inquiry  about  distances  led  to  the  discovery  that  this 
Sheik  had  never  heard  of  the  division  of  time  into  hours  ;  my 
Arabs  themselves,  I  think,  were  rather  surprised  at  this. 

About  this  part  of  my  journey,  I  saw  the  likeness  of  a  fresh- 
water lake  ;  I  saw,  as  it  seemed,  a  broad  sheet  of  calm  water 
that  stretched  far  and  fair  toward  the  south  —  stretching 
deep  into  winding  creeks,  and  hemimed  in  by  jutting  promon- 
tories, and  shelving  smooth  off  toward  the  shallow  side ;  on 
its  bosom  the  reflected  fire  of  the  sun  lay  playing  and  seeming 
to  float  upon  waters  deep  and  still. 


148  KINGLAKE 

Though  I  knew  of  the  cheat,  it  was  not  till  the  spongy  foot 
of  my  camel  had  almost  trodden  in  the  seeming  waters,  that  I 
could  undeceive  my  eyes,  for  the  shore-line  was  quite  true  and 
natural.  I  soon  saw  the  cause  of  the  phantasm.  A  sheet  of 
water  heavily  impregnated  with  salts  had  filled  this  great 
hollow  ;  and  when  dried  up  by  evaporation  had  left  a  white 
saline  deposit  that  exactly  marked  the  space  which  the  waters 
had  covered,  and  thus  sketched  a  true  shore-line.  The  minute 
crystals  of  the  salt  sparkled  in  the  sun,  and  so  looked  like  the 
face  of  a  lake  that  is  calm  and  smooth. 

The  pace  of  the  camel  is  irksome,  and  makes  your  shoulders 
and  loins  ache  from  the  peculiar  way  in  which  you  are  obliged 
to  suit  yourself  to  the  movements  of  the  beast ;  but  you  soon 
of  course  become  inured  to  this,  and  after  the  first  two  days 
this  way  of  traveling  became  so  familiar  to  me,  that  (poor 
sleeper  as  I  am)  I  now  and  then  slumbered,  for  some  moments 
together,  on  the  back  of  my  camel.  On  the  fifth  day  of  my 
journey  the  air  above  lay  dead,  and  all  the  whole  earth  that  I 
could  reach  with  my  utmost  sight  and  keenest  listening  was 
still  and  lifeless  as  some  dispeopled  and  forgotten  world,  that 
rolls  round  and  round  in  the  heavens,  through  wasted  floods 
of  light.  The  sun,  growing  fiercer  and  fiercer,  shone  down 
more  mightily  now  than  ever  on  me  he  shone  before,  and  as  I 
drooped  my  head  under  his  fire,  and  closed  my  eyes  against 
the  glare  that  surrounded  me,  I  slowly  fell  asleep,  for  how 
many  minutes  or  moments,  I  cannot  tell ;  but  after  a  while  I 
was  gently  awakened  by  a  peal  of  church  bells  —  my  native 
bells — the  innocent  bells  of  Marlen,  that  never  before  sent 
forth  their  music  beyond  the  Blaygon  hills !  My  first  idea 
naturally  was,  that  I  still  remained  fast  under  the  power  of  a 
dream.  I  roused  myself,  and  drew  aside  the  silk  that  covered 
my  eyes,  and  plunged  my  bare  face  into  the  light.  Then  at 
least  I  was  well  enough  wakened,  but  still  those  old  Marlen 
bells  rang  on,  not  ringing  for  joy,  but  properly,  prosily,  stead- 
ily, merrily  ringing  "for  church."  After  a  while  the  sound 
died  away  slowly ;  it  happened  that  neither  I  nor  any  of  my 
party  had  a  watch  by  which  to  measure  the  exact  time  of  its 
lasting,  but  it  seemed  to  be  that  about  ten  minutes  had  passed 
before  the  bells  ceased.  I  attributed  the  effect  to  the  great 
heat  of  the  sun,  the  perfect  dryness  of  the  clear  air  through 


EOTHEN  149 

which  I  moved,  and  the  deep  stillness  of  all  around  me ;  it 
seemed  to  me  that  these  causes,  by  occasioning  a  great  ten- 
sion, and  consequent  susceptibility  of  the  hearing  organs,  had 
rendered  them  liable  to  tingle  under  the  passing  touch  of  some 
mere  memory,  that  must  have  swept  across  my  brain  in  a 
moment  of  sleep.  Since  my  return  to  England  it  has  been 
told  me  that  like  sounds  have  been  heard  at  sea,  and  that  the 
sailor  becalmed  under  a  vertical  sun,  in  the  midst  of  the  wide 
ocean,  has  listened  in  trembling  wonder  to  the  chime  of  his 
own  village  bells. 

At  this  time  I  kept  a  poor,  shabby  pretense  of  a  journal, 
which  just  enabled  me  to  know  the  day  of  the  month  and  the 
week,  according  to  the  European  calendar,  and  when  in  my 
tent  at  night  I  got  out  my  pocket-book,  I  found  that  the  day 
was  Sunday,  and  roughly  allowing  for  the  difference  of  time 
in  this  longitude,  I  concluded  that  at  the  moment  of  my  hear- 
ing that  strange  peal,  the  church-going  bells  of  Marlen  must 
have  been  actually  calling  the  prim  congregation  of  the  parish 
to  morning  prayer.  The  coincidence  amused  me  faintly,  but 
I  could  not  pluck  up  the  least  hope  that  the  effect  which  I  had 
experienced  was  anything  other  than  an  illusion  —  an  illusion 
liable  to  be  explained  (as  every  illusion  is  in  these  days)  by 
some  of  the  philosophers  who  guess  at  nature's  riddles.  It 
would  have  been  sweeter  to  believe  that  my  kneeling  mother, 
by  some  pious  enchantment,  had  asked  and  found  this  spell  to 
rouse  me  from  my  scandalous  forgetfulness  of  God's  holy  day  ; 
but  my  fancy  was  too  weak  to  carry  a  faith  like  that.  Indeed, 
the  vale  through  which  the  bells  of  Marlen  send  their  song  is 
a  highly  respectable  vale,  and  its  people  (save  one,  two,  or 
three)  are  wholly  unaddicted  to  the  practise  of  magical  arts. 

After  the  fifth  day  of  my  journey,  I  no  longer  traveled  over 
shifting  hills,  but  came  upon  a  dead  level  —  a  dead  level  bed 
of  sand,  quite  hard,  and  studded  with  small  shining  pebbles. 

The  heat  grew  fierce ;  there  was  no  valley  nor  hollow,  no 
hill,  no  mound,  no  shadow  of  hill  nor  of  mound,  by  which  I 
could  mark  the  way  I  was  making.  Hour  by  hour  I  advanced, 
and  saw  no  change  —  I  was  still  the  very  center  of  a  round 
horizon  ;  hour  by  hour  I  advanced,  and  still  there  was  the  same 
and  the  same  and  the  same  —  the  same  circle  of  flaming  sky  — 
the  same  circle  of  sand  still  glaring  with  light  and  fire.     Ovei 


150  KINGLAKE 

all  the  heaven  above  —  over  all  the  earth  beneath,  there  was  no 
visible  power  that  could  balk  the  fierce  will  of  the  sun ;  "  he 
rejoiced  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race;  his  going  forth  was 
from  the  end  of  the  heaven,  and  his  circuit  unto  the  ends  of 
it ;  and  there  was  nothing  hid  from  the  heat  thereof."  From 
pole  to  pole,  and  from  the  east  to  the  west,  he  brandished 
his  fiery  scepter  as  though  he  had  usurped  all  Heaven  and 
Earth.  As  he  bade  the  soft  Persian  in  ancient  times,  so  now, 
and  fiercely,  too,  he  bade  me  bow  down  and  worship  him;  so 
now  in  his  pride  he  seemed  to  command  me  and  say,  "  Thou 
shalt  have  none  other  gods  but  me."  I  was  all  alone  before  him. 
There  were  these  two  pitted  together,  and  face  to  face — the 
mighty  sun  for  one,  and  for  the  other — this  poor,  pale,  solitary 
self  of  mine,  that  I  always  carry  about  with  me. 

But  on  the  eighth  day,  and  before  I  had  yet  turned  away 
from  Jehovah  for  the  glittering  god  of  the  Persians,  there  ap- 
peared a  dark  line  upon  the  edge  of  the  forward  horizon,  and 
soon  the  line  deepened  into  a  delicate  fringe  that  sparkled 
here  and  there,  as  though  it  were  sown  with  diamonds.  There, 
then,  before  me  were  the  gardens  and  the  minarets  of  Egypt, 
and  the  mighty  works  of  the  Nile,  and  I  (the  eternal  Ego  that 
I  am !  ) —  I  had  lived  to  see,  and  I  saw  them. 

When  evening  came  I  was  still  within  the  confines  of  the 
desert,  and  my  tent  was  pitched  as  usual,  but  one  of  my  Arabs 
stalked  away  rapidly  toward  the  west  without  telling  me  of 
the  errand  on  which  he  was  bent.  After  a  while  he  returned ; 
he  had  toiled  on  a  grateful  service  ;  he  had  traveled  all  the 
way  on  to  the  border  of  the  living  world,  and  brought  me  back 
for  token  an  ear  of  rice,  full,  fresh,  and  green. 

The  next  day  I  entered  upon  Egypt,  and  floated  along  (for 
the  delight  was  as  the  delight  of  bathing)  through  green,  wavy 
fields  of  rice,  and  pastures  fresh  and  plentiful,  and  dived  into 
the  cold  verdure  of  groves  and  gardens,  and  quenched  my  hot 
eyes  in  shade,  as  though  in  deep  rushing  waters. 


I 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Cairo  atid  the  Plague  ^ 

CAIRO  and  Plague !  During  the  whole  time  of  my  stay,., 
the  Plague  was  so  master  of  the  city,  and  showed  him- 
self so  staringly  in  every  street  and  every  alley,  that 
I  can't  now  affect  to  dissociate  the  two  ideas. 

When,  coming  from  the  desert,  I  rode  through  a  village 
which  lies  near  to  the  city  on  the  eastern  side,  there  ap- 
proached me  with  busy  face  and  earnest  gestures  a  personage 
in  the  Turkish  dress ;  his  long  flowing  beard  gave  him  rather 
a  majestic  look,  but  his  briskness  of  manner  and  his  visible 
anxiety  to  accost  me  seemed  strange  in  an  Oriental.  The 
man,  in  fact,  was  French  or  of  French  origin,  and  his  object 
was  to  warn  me  of  the  Plague  and  prevent  me  from  entering 
the  city. 

Arretez-vous,  Monsieur,  je  vous  en  prie  —  arretez-vous ;  il  ne 
faut  pas  entrer  dans  la  ville  ;  la  Peste  y  rcgne  partout. 

Oui,  je  sais,^  mais  — 

^  There  is  some  semblance  of  bravado  in  my  manner  of  talking  about  the 
Plague.  I  have  been  more  careful  to  describe  the  terrors  of  other  people 
than  my  own.  The  truth  is,  that  during  the  whole  period  of  my  stay  at 
Cairo,  I  remained  thoroughly  impressed  with  a  sense  of  my  danger.  I  may 
almost  say  that  I  lived  in  perpetual  apprehension,  for  even  in  sleep,  as  I 
fancy,  there  remained  with  me  some  faint  notion  of  the  peril  with  which  I 
was  encompassed.  But  Fear  does  not  necessarily  damp  the  spirits  ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  will  often  operate  as  an  excitement,  giving  rise  to  unusual  ani- 
mation, and  thus  it  affected  me.  If  I  had  not  been  surrounded  at  this  time 
by  new  faces,  new  scenes,  and  new  sounds,  the  effect  produced  upon  my 
mind  by  one  unceasing  cause  of  alarm  may  have  been  very  different.  As 
it  was,  the  eagerness  with  which  I  pursued  my  rambles  among  the  wonders 
of  Egypt  was  sharpened  and  increased  by  the  sting  of  the  fear  of  Death. 
Thus  my  account  of  the  matter  plainly  conveys  an  impression  that  I  re- 
mained at  Cairo  without  losing  my  cheerfulness  and  buoyancy  of  spirits. 
And  this  is  the  truth,  but  it  is  also  true,  as  I  have  freely  confessed,  that  my 
sense  of  danger  during  the  whole  period  was  lively  and  continuous. 

"^  Anglice  for  "je  le  sais."  These  answers  of  mine,  as  given  above,  are 
not  meant  for  specimens  of  mere  French,  but  of  that  line,  terse,  nervous, 

151 


152  KINGLAKE 

Mais,  Monsieur,  je  dis  la  Peste  —  la  Peste ;  c'est  de  la 
Peste  qu'il  est  question. 

Oui,  je  sais,  mais  — 

Mais,  Monsieur,  je  dis  encore  la  Peste — la  Peste.  Je 
vous  conjure  de  ne  pas  entrer  dans  la  ville  —  vous  serez  dans 
une  ville  empestee. 

Oui,  je  sais,  mais  — 

Mais,  Monsieur,  je  dois  done  vous  avertir  tout  bonnement 
^ue  si  vous  entrez  dans  la  ville,  vous  serez —  enfin  vous  serez 

COMPROMIS  !  ^ 

Oui,  je  sais,  mais  — 

The  Frenchman  was  at  last  convinced  that  it  was  vain  to 
reason  with  a  mere  Englishman  who  could  not  understand 
what  it  was  to  be  "  compromised."  I  thanked  him  most  sin- 
cerely for  his  kindly  meant  warning ;  in  hot  countries  it  is 
very  unusual  indeed  for  a  man  to  go  out  in  the  glare  of  the 
sun  and  give  free  advice  to  a  stranger. 

When  I  arrived  at  Cairo  I  summoned  Osman  Effendi,  who 
was,  as  I  knew,  the  owner  of  several  houses,  and  would  be 
able  to  provide  me  with  apartments ;  he  had  no  difficulty  in 
doing  this,  for  there  was  not  one  European  traveler  in  Cairo 
besides  myself.  Poor  Osman !  he  met  me  with  a  sorrowful 
countenance,  for  the  fear  of  the  Plague  sat  heavily  on  his 
soul;  he  seemed  as  if  he  felt  that  he  was  doing  wrong  in 
lending  me  a  resting-place,  and  he  betrayed  such  a  listlessness 
about  temporal  matters,  as  one  might  look  for  in  a  man  who  be- 
lieved that  his  days  were  numbered.  He  caught  me,  too,  soon 
after  my  arrival,  coming  out  from  the  public  baths,^  and  from 

Continental  English,  with  which  I  and  my  compatriots  make  our  wa}' 
through  Europe.  This  language,  by  the  by,  is  one  possessing  great  force 
and  energy,  and  is  not  without  its  literature  —  a  literature  of  the  very  high- 
est order.  Where  will  you  find  more  sturdy  specimens  of  downright, 
honest,  and  noble  English  than  in  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  ''  French  " 
despatches  ? 

^  The  import  of  the  word  "  compromised,"  when  used  in  reference  to 
contagion,  is  explained  on  page  2. 

2  It  is  said,  that  when  a  Mussulman  finds  himself  attacked  by  the  Plague 
he  goes  and  takes  a  bath.  The  couches  on  which  the  bathers  recline  would 
carry  infection,  according  to  the  notion  of  the  Europeans.  Whenever, 
therefore,  I  took  the  bath  at  Cairo  (except  the  first  time  of  my  doing  so),  I 
avoided  that  part  of  the  luxury  which  consists  in  being  "  put  up  to  dry  " 
upon  a  kind  of  bed. 


EOTHEN  153 

that  time  forward  he  was  sadly  afraid  of  me,  for  he  shared 
the  opinions  of  Europeans  with  respect  to  the  effect  of  con- 
tagion. 

Osman's  history  is  a  curious  one.  He  was  a  Scotchman 
born,  and  when  very  young,  being  then  a  drummer  boy,  he 
landed  in  Egypt  with  Mackensie  Eraser's  force.  He  was 
taken  prisoner,  and  according  to  Mohammedan  custom,  the 
alternative  of  Death  or  the  Koran  was  offered  to  him ;  he  did 
not  choose  Death,  and  therefore  went  through  the  ceremonies 
which  were  necessary  for  turning  him  into  a  good  Mohamme- 
dan. But  what  amused  me  most  in  his  history  was  this,  that 
very  soon  after  having  embraced  Islam,  he  was  obliged  in  prac- 
tise to  become  curious  and  discriminating  in  his  new  faith  — 
to  make  war  upon  Mohammedan  dissenters,  and  follow  the  or- 
thodox standard  of  the  Prophet  in  fierce  campaigns  against  the 
Wahabees,  who  are  the  Unitarians  of  the  Mussulman  world. 
The  Wahabees  were  crushed,  and  Osman,  returning  home  in 
triumph  from  his  holy  wars,  began  to  flourish  in  the  world ; 
he  acquired  property  and  became  effendi,  or  gentleman.  At 
the  time  of  my  visit  to  Cairo  he  seemed  to  be  much  respected 
by  his  brother  Mohammedans,  and  gave  pledge  of  his  sincere 
alienation  from  Christianity  by  keeping  a  couple  of  wives. 
He  affected  the  same  sort  of  reserve  in  mentioning  them  as 
is  generally  shown  by  Orientals.  He  invited  me,  indeed,  to 
see  his  harem,  but  he  made  both  his  wives  bundle  out  before 
I  was  admitted;  he  felt,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  that  neither  of 
them  would  bear  criticism,  and  I  think  that  this  idea,  rather 
than  any  motive  of  sincere  jealousy,  induced  him  to  keep 
them  out  of  sight.  The  rooms  of  the  harem  reminded  me  of 
an  English  nursery,  rather  than  of  a  Mohammedan  paradise. 
One  is  apt  to  judge  of  a  woman  before  one  sees  her,  by  the 
air  of  elegance  or  coarseness  with  which  she  surrounds  her 
home;  I  judged  Osman's  wives  by  this  test,  and  condemned 
them  both.  But  the  strangest  feature  in  Osman's  character 
was  his  inextinguishable  nationality.  In  vain  they  had 
brought  him  over  the  seas  in  early  boyhood  —  in  vain  had  he 
suffered  captivity,  conversion,  circumcision  —  in  vain  they  had 
passed  him  through  fire  in  their  Arabian  campaigns  —  they 
could  not  cut  away  or  burn  out  poor  Osman's  inborn  love  of 
all  that  was  Scotch ;  in  vain  men  called  him  Effendi  —  in  vain 


154  KINGLAKE 

he  swept  along  in  Eastern  robes  —  in  vain  the  rival  wives 
adorned  his  harem ;  the  joy  of  his  heart  still  plainly  lay  in 
this,  that  he  had  three  shelves  of  books,  and  that  the  books 
were  thoroughbred  Scotch  —  the  Edinburgh  this,  the  Edin- 
burgh that,  and  above  all,  I  recollect,  he  prided  himself  upon 
the  "  Edinburgh  Cabinet  Library." 

The  fear  of  the  Plague  is  its  forerunner.  It  is  likely  enough 
that  at  the  time  of  my  seeing  poor  Osman,  the  deadly  taint 
was  beginning  to  creep  through  his  veins,  but  it  was  not  till 
after  I  left  Cairo  that  he  was  visibly  stricken.     He  died. 

As  soon  as  I  had  seen  all  that  I  wanted  to  see  in  Cairo,  and 
in  the  neighborhood,  I  wished  to  make  my  escape  from  a 
city  that  lay  under  the  terrible  curse  of  the  Plague ;  but 
Mysseri  fell  ill,  in  consequence,  I  believe,  of  the  hardships 
which  he  had  been  suffering  in  my  service ;  after  a  while  he 
recovered  sufficiently  to  undertake  a  journey,  but  then  there 
was  some  difficulty  in  procuring  beasts  of  burden,  and  it  was 
not  till  the  nineteenth  day  of  my  sojourn  that  I  quit  the  city. 

During  all  this  time  the  power  of  the  Plague  was  rapidly 
increasing.  When  I  first  arrived  it  was  said  that  the  daily 
number  of  "  accidents  "  by  Plague,  out  of  a  population  of  about 
200,000,  did  not  exceed  four  or  five  hundred,  but  before  I 
went  away  the  deaths  were  reckoned  at  twelve  hundred  a 
day.  I  had  no  means  of  knowing  whether  the  numbers 
(given  out,  as  I  believe  they  were,  by  officials)  were  at  all 
correct,  but  I  could  not  help  knowing  that  from  day  to  day 
the  number  of  the  dead  was  increasing.  My  quarters  were 
in  a  street  which  was  one  of  the  chief  thoroughfares  of  the 
city.  The  funerals  in  Cairo  take  place  between  daybreak 
and  noon,  and  as  I  was  generally  in  my  rooms  during  this 
part  of  the  day,  I  could  form  some  opinion  as  to  the  briskness 
of  the  Plague.  I  don't  mean  this  for  a  sly  insinuation  that  I 
got  up  every  morning  with  the  sun.  It  was  not  so,  but  the 
funerals  of  most  people  in  decent  circumstances  at  Cairo  are 
attended  by  singers  and  howlers,  and  the  performances  of 
these  people  woke  me  in  the  early  morning,  and  prevented 
me  from  remaining  in  ignorance  of  what  was  going  on  in  the 
street  below. 

These  funerals  were  very  simply  conducted.  The  bier  was 
a  shallow  wooden  tray  carried  upon  a  light  and  weak  wooden 


EOTHEN  155 

frame.  The  tray  had,  in  general,  no  lid,  but  the  body  was 
more  or  less  hidden  from  view  by  a  shawl  or  scarf.  The 
whole  was  borne  upon  the  shoulders  of  men  who  contrived  to 
cut  along  with  their  burdens  at  a  great  pace.  Two  or  three 
singers  generally  preceded  the  bier ;  the  howlers  (who  are 
paid  for  their  vocal  labors)  followed  after,  and  last  of  all  came 
such  of  the  dead  man's  friends  and  relations  as  could  keep  up 
with  such  a  rapid  procession ;  these,  especially  the  women, 
would  get  terribly  blown,  and  would  straggle  back  into  the 
rear ;  many  were  fairly  "  beaten  off."  I  never  observed  any 
appearance  of  mourning  in  the  mourners ;  the  pace  was  too 
severe  for  any  solemn  affectation  of  grief. 

When  first  I  arrived  at  Cairo  the  funerals  that  daily  passed 
under  my  windows  were  many,  but  still  there  were  frequent 
and  long  intervals  without  a  single  howl.  Every  day,  how- 
ever (except  one,  when  I  fancied  that  I  observed  a  diminution 
of  funerals),  these  intervals  became  less  frequent,  and  shorter, 
and  at  last  the  passing  of  the  howlers  from  morn  to  noon  was 
almost  incessant.  I  believe  that  about  one  half  of  the  whole 
people  was  carried  off  by  this  visitation.  The  Orientals, 
however,  have  more  quiet  fortitude  than  Europeans  under 
afflictions  of  this  sort,  and  they  never  allow  the  Plague  to 
interfere  with  their  religious  usages.  I  rode  one  day  round 
the  great  burial-ground.  The  tombs  are  strewed  over  a  great 
expanse,  among  the  vast  mountains  of  rubbish  (the  accumula- 
tions of  many  centuries)  which  surround  the  city.  The 
ground,  unlike  the  Turkish  "cities  of  the  dead,"  which  are 
made  so  beautiful  by  their  dark  cypresses,  has  nothing  to 
sweeten  melancholy  —  nothing  to  mitigate  the  odiousness  of 
death.  Carnivorous  beasts  and  birds  possess  the  place  by 
night,  and  now  in  the  fair  morning  it  was  all  alive  with  fresh 
comers  —  alive  with  dead.  Yet  at  this  very  time  when  the 
Plague  was  raging  so  furiously,  and  on  this  very  ground  which 
resounded  so  mournfully  with  the  howls  of  arriving  funerals, 
preparations  were  going  on  for  the  religious  festival  called 
the  Kourban  Bairam.  Tents  were  pitched  and  swings  hung 
for  the  amusement  of  children  —  a  ghastly  holiday  !  but  the 
Mohammedans  take  a  pride,  and  a  just  pride,  in  following 
their  ancient  customs  undisturbed  by  the  shadow  of  death. 

I  did  not  hear  whilst  I  was  at  Cairo  that  any  prayer  for  a 


156  KINGLAKE 

remission  of  the  Plague  had  been  offered  up  in  the  mosques. 
I  believe  that,  however  frightful  the  ravages  of  the  disease 
may  be,  the  Mohammedans  refrain  from  approaching  Heaven 
with  their  complaints  until  the  Plague  has  endured  for  a  long 
space,  and  then  at  last  they  pray  God,  not  that  the  Plague 
may  cease,  but  that  it  may  go  to  another  city  ! 

A  good  Mussulman  seems  to  take  pride  in  repudiating  the 
European  notion  that  the  will  of  God  can  be  eluded  by  eluding 
the  touch  of  a  sleeve.  When  I  went  to  see  the  Pyramids  of 
Sakkara,  I  was  the  guest  of  a  noble  old  fellow  —  an  Osman- 
lee,  whose  soft  rolling  language  it  was  a  luxury  to  hear,  after 
suffering  as  I  had  suffered  of  late  from  the  shrieking  tongue 
of  the  Arabs  ;  this  man  was  aware  of  the  European  ideas 
about  contagion,  and  his  first  care,  therefore,  was  to  assure 
me  that  not  a  single  instance  of  Plague  had  occurred  in  his 
village ;  he  then  inquired  as  to  the  progress  of  the  Plague  at 
Cairo  —  I  had  but  a  bad  account  to  give.  Up  to  this  time 
my  host  had  carefully  refrained  from  touching  me,  out  of 
respect  to  the  European  theory  of  contagion,  but  as  soon  as 
it  was  made  plain  that  he,  and  not  I,  would  be  the  person 
endangered  by  contact,  he  gently  laid  his  hand  upon  my 
arm,  in  order  to  make  me  feel  sure  that  the  circumstance  of 
my  coming  from  an  infected  city  did  not  occasion  him  the 
least  uneasiness.     That  touch  was  worthy  of  Jove. 

Very  different  is  the  faith  and  the  practise  of  the  Euro- 
peans, or  rather  I  mean  of  the  Europeans  settled  in  the  East, 
and  commonly  called  Levantines.  When  I  came  to  the  end 
of  my  journey  over  the  desert,  I  had  been  so  long  alone  that 
the  prospect  of  speaking  to  somebody  at  Cairo  seemed  almost 
a  new  excitement.  I  felt  a  sort  of  consciousness  that  I  had 
a  little  of  the  wild  beast  about  me,  but  I  was  quite  in  the 
humor  to  be  charmingly  tame,  and  to  be  quite  engaging  in 
my  manners  if  I  should  have  an  opportunity  of  holding  com- 
munion with  any  of  the  human  race  whilst  at  Cairo.  I  knew 
no  one  in  the  place,  and  had  no  letters  of  introduction,  but 
I  carried  letters  of  credit,  and  it  often  happens  in  places 
remote  from  England  that  those  "  advices  "  operate  as  a  sort 
of  introduction,  and  obtain  for  the  bearer  (if  disposed  to 
receive  them)  such  ordinary  civilities  as  it  may  be  in  the 
power  of  the  banker  to  offer. 


EOTHEN  157 

Very  soon  after  my  arrival  I  went  to  the  house  of  the 
Levantine  to  whom  my  credentials  were  addressed.  At  his 
door  several  persons  (all  Arabs)  were  hanging  about  and 
keeping  guard.  It  was  not  till  after  some  delay,  and  the 
passing  of  some  communications  with  those  in  the  interior 
of  the  citadel,  that  I  was  admitted.  At  length,  however,  I 
was  conducted  through  the  court  and  up  a  flight  of  stairs,  and 
finally  into  the  apartment  where  business  was  transacted. 
The  room  was  divided  by  an  excellent,  substantial  fence  of 
iron  bars,. and  behind  this  grille  the  banker  had  his  station. 
The  truth  was,  that  from  fear  of  the  Plague  he  had  adopted 
the  course  usually  taken  by  European  residents,  and  had  shut 
himself  up  "in  strict  quarantine,"  —  that  is  to  say,  that  he 
had,  as  he  hoped,  cut  himself  off  from  all  communication  with 
infecting  substances.  The  Europeans  long  resident  in  the 
East,  without  any,  or  with  scarcely  any,  exception,  are  firmly 
convinced  that  the  Plague  is  propagated  by  contact  and  by 
contact  only  —  that  if  they  can  but  avoid  the  touch  of  an  in- 
fecting substance,  they  are  safe,  and  if  they  cannot,  they  die. 
This  belief  induces  them  to  adopt  the  contrivance  of  putting 
themselves  in  that  state  of  siege  which  they  call  "  quarantine." 
It  is  a  part  of  their  faith  that  metals  and  hempen  rope,  and 
also,  I  fancy,  one  or  two  other  substances,  will  not  carry  the 
infection ;  and  they  likewise  believe  that  the  germ  of  pesti- 
lence which  lies  in  an  infected  substance  may  be  destroyed  by 
submersion  in  water,  or  by  the  action  of  smoke.  They  there- 
fore guard  the  doors  of  their  houses  with  the  utmost  care 
against  intrusion,  and  condemn  themselves  and  all  the  mem- 
bers of  their  family,  including  any  European  servants,  to  a 
strict  imprisonment  within  the  walls  of  their  dwelling.  Their 
native  attendants  are  not  allowed  to  enter  at  all,  but  they 
make  the  necessary  purchases  of  provisions,  which  are  hauled 
up  through  one  of  the  windows  by  means  of  a  rope,  and  are 
then  soaked  in  water. 

I  knew  nothing  of  these  mysteries,  and  was  not  therefore 
prepared  for  the  sort  of  reception  which  I  met  with.  I  ad- 
vanced to  the  iron  fence,  and  putting  my  letter  between  the 
bars,  politely  proffered  it  to  Mr.  Banker.  Mr.  Banker  re- 
ceived me  with  a  sad  and  dejected  look,  and  not  "with  open 
arms,"  or  with  any  arras  at  all,  but  with  —  a  pair  of  tongs ! 


158  KINGLAKE 

—  I  placed  my  letter  between  the  iron  fingers  which  picked  it 
up  as  if  it  were  a  viper,  and  conveyed  it  away  to  be  scorched 
and  purified  by  fire  and  smoke.  I  was  disgusted  at  this  re- 
ception, and  at  the  idea  that  anything  of  mine  could  carry 
infection  to  the  poor  wretch,  who  stood  on  the  other  side  of 
the  grille  —  pale  and  trembling,  and  already  meet  for  Death. 
I  looked  with  something  of  the  Mohammedan's  feeling  upon 
these  little  contrivances  for  eluding  Fate ;  and  in  this  instance 
at  least  they  were  vain ;  a  few  more  days  and  the  poor 
money-changer  who  had  striven  to  guard  the  days  of  his  life 
(as  though  they  were  coins)  with  bolts  and  bars  of  iron  —  he 
was  seized  by  the  Plague  and  he  died. 

To  people  entertaining  such  opinions  as  these  respecting 
the  fatal  effect  of  contact,  the  narrow  and  crowded  streets  of 
Cairo  were  as  terrible  as  the  easy  slope  that  leads  to  Avernus. 
The  roaring  Ocean  and  the  beetling  crags  owe  something  of 
their  sublimity  to  this  —  that  if  they  be  tempted,  they  can  take 
the  warm  life  of  a  man.  To  the  contagionist,  filled  as  he  is 
with  the  dread  of  final  causes,  having  no  faith  in  Destiny,  nor 
in  the  fixed  will  of  God,  and  with  none  of  the  devil-may-care 
indifference  which  might  stand  him  instead  of  creeds  —  to 
such  a  one,  every  rag  that  shivers  in  the  breeze  of  a  Plague- 
stricken  city  has  this  sort  of  sublimity.  If  by  any  terrible 
ordinance  he  be  forced  to  venture  forth,  he  sees  Death  dan- 
gling from  every  sleeve,  and  as  he  creeps  forward  he  poises 
his  shuddering  Hmbs  between  the  imminent  jacket  that  is 
stabbing  at  his  right  elbow  and  the  murderous  pelisse  that 
threatens  to  mow  him  clean  down  as  it  sweeps  along  on  his 
left.  But  most  of  all  he  dreads  that  which  most  of  all  he 
should  love  —  the  touch  of  a  woman's  dress,  for  mothers  and 
wives  hurrying  forth  on  kindly  errands  from  the  bedsides  of 
the  dying  go  slouching  along  through  the  streets  more  wil- 
fully and  less  courteously  than  the  men.  For  a  while  it  may 
be  that  the  caution  of  the  poor  Levantine  may  enable  him  to 
avoid  contact,  but  sooner  or  later,  perhaps,  the  dreaded  chance 
arrives ;  that  bundle  of  linen,  with  the  dark  tearful  eyes  at 
the  top  of  it,  that  labors  along  with  the  voluptuous  clumsiness 
of  Grisi  —  she  has  touched  the  poor  Levantine  with  the  hem 
of  her  sleeve !  From  that  dread  moment  his  peace  is  gone  ; 
his  mind,  forever  hanging  upon  the  fatal  touch,  invites  the 


EOTHEN  159 

blow  which  he  fears ;  he  watches  for  the  symptoms  of  Plague 
so  carefully,  that  sooner  or  later  they  come  in  truth.  The 
parched  mouth  is  a  sign  —  his  mouth  is  parched ;  the  throb- 
bing brain  —  his  brain  does  throb  ;  the  rapid  pulse  —  he 
touches  his  own  wrist  (for  he  dares  not  ask  counsel  of  any 
man  lest  he  be  deserted),  he  touches  his  wrist,  and  feels  how 
his  frighted  blood  goes  galloping  out  of  his  heart ;  there  is 
nothing  but  the  fatal  swelling  that  is  wanting  to  make  his 
sad  conviction  complete ;  immediately  he  has  an  odd  feeling 
under  the  arm  —  no  pain,  but  a  little  straining  of  the  skin  ; 
he  would  to  God  it  were  his  fancy  that  were  strong  enough 
to  give  him  that  sensation ;  this  is  the  worst  of  all ;  it  now 
seems  to  him  that  he  could  be  happy  and  contented  with  his 
parched  mouth,  and  his  throbbing  brain,  and  his  rapid  pulse, 
if  only  he  could  know  that  there  were  no  swelling  under  the 
left  arm  ;  but  dares  he  try  ?  —  in  a  moment  of  calmness  and 
deliberation  he  dares  not,  but  when  for  a  while  he  has  writhed 
under  the  torture  of  suspense,  a  sudden  strength  of  will  drives 
him  to  seek  and  know  his  fate  ;  he  touches  the  gland  and 
finds  the  skin  sane  and  sound,  but  under  the  cuticle  there  lies 
a  small  lump  like  a  pistol  bullet,  that  moves  as  he  pushes  it. 
Oh!  but  is  this  for  all  certainty,  is  this  the  sentence  of  death  .'' 
Feel  the  gland  of  the  other  arm ;  there  is  not  the  same  lump 
exactly,  yet  something  a  little  like  it;  have  not  some  people 
glands  naturally  enlarged  ?  —  would  to  heaven  he  were  one  ! 
So  he  does  for  himself  the  work  of  the  Plague,  and  when  the 
Angel  of  Death,  thus  courted,  does  indeed  and  in  truth  come, 
he  has  only  to  finish  that  which  has  been  so  well  begun ;  he 
passes  his  fiery  hand  over  the  brain  of  the  victim,  and  lets 
him  rave  for  a  season,  but  all  chance-wise,  of  people  and 
things  once  dear,  or  of  people  and  things  indifferent.  Once 
more  the  poor  fellow  is  back  at  his  home  in  fair  Provence,  and 
sees  the  sun-dial  that  stood  in  his  childhood's  garden  —  sees 
part  of  his  mother,  and  the  long-since-forgotten  face  of  that 
little  dead  sister  —  (he  sees  her,  he  says,  on  a  Sunday  morn- 
ing, for  all  the  church  bells  are  ringing) ;  he  looks  up  and 
down  through  the  universe,  and  ov/ns  it  well  piled  with  bales 
upon  bales  of  cotton,  and  cotton  eternal  —  so  much  so,  that 
he  feels  —  he  knows  —  he  swears  he  could  make  that  win- 
ning hazard,  if  the  billiard  table  would  not  slant  upwards, 


l60  KINGLAKE 

and  if  the  cue  were  a  cue  worth  playing  with ;  but  it  is  not  — 
it's  a  cue  that  won't  move — his  own  arm  won't  move  —  in 
short,  there's  the  devil  to  pay  in  the  brain  of  the  poor  Levant- 
ine, and,  perhaps,  the  next  night  but  one  he  becomes  the 
"  life  and  the  soul "  of  some  squalling  jackal  family,  who  fish 
him  out  by  the  foot  from  his  shallow  and  sandy  grave. 

Better  fate  was  mine ;  by  some  happy  perverseness  (occa- 
sioned perhaps  by  my  disgust  at  the  notion  of  being  received 
with  a  pair  of  tongs),  I  took  it  into  my  pleasant  head  that  all 
the  European  notions  about  contagion  were  thoroughly  un- 
founded—  that  the  Plague  might  be  providential  or  "epi- 
demic "  (as  they  phrase  it),  but  was  not  contagious,  and  that 
I  could  not  be  killed  by  the  touch  of  a  woman's  sleeve,  nor 
yet  by  her  blessed  breath.  I  therefore  determined  that  the 
Plague  should  not  alter  my  habits  and  amusements  in  any  one 
respect.  Though  I  came  to  this  resolve  from  impulse,  I 
think  that  I  took  the  course  which  was  in  effect  the  most  pru- 
dent, for  the  cheerfulness  of  spirits  which  I  was  thus  enabled 
to  retain  discouraged  the  yellow-winged  Angel,  and  prevented 
him  from  taking  a  shot  at  me.  I,  however,  so  far  respected 
the  opinion  of  the  Europeans,  that  I  avoided  touching,  when 
I  could  do  so  without  privation  or  inconvenience.  This  en- 
deavor furnished  me  with  a  sort  of  amusement  as  I  passed 
through  the  streets.  The  usual  mode  of  moving  from  place 
to  place  in  the  city  of  Cairo  is  upon  donkeys,  of  which  great 
numbers  are  always  in  readiness,  with  donkey  boys  attached. 
I  had  two  who  constantly  (until  one  of  them  died  of  the 
Plague)  waited  at  my  door  upon  the  chance  of  being  wanted. 
I  found  this  way  of  moving  about  exceedingly  pleasant,  and 
never  attempted  any  other.  I  had  only  to  mount  my  beast, 
and  tell  my  donkey  boy  the  point  for  which  I  was  bound,  and 
instantly  I  began  to  glide  on  at  a  capital  pace.  The  streets 
of  Cairo  are  not  paved  in  any  way,  but  strewed  with  a  dry 
sandy  soil  so  deadening  to  sound  that  the  footfall  of  my  don- 
key could  scarcely  be  heard.  There  is  no  trottoir,  and  as  you 
ride  through  the  streets,  you  mingle  with  the  people  on  foot ; 
those  who  are  in  your  way,  upon  being  warned  by  the  shouts 
of  the  donkey  boy,  move  very  slightly  aside  so  as  to  leave  you 
a  narrow  lane  through  which  ^you  pass  at  a  gallop.  In  this 
way  you  glide  on  delightfully  in  the  very  midst  of  crowds, 


EOTHEN  l6l 

without  being  inconvenienced  or  stopped  for  a  moment ;  it 
seems  to  you  that  it  is  not  the  donkey  but  the  donkey  boy 
who  wafts  you  on  with  his  shouts  through  pleasant  groups 
and  air  that  feels  thick  with  the  fragrance  of  burial  spice. 
"Eh!  Sheik, —  eh!  Bint, —  reggalek  —  shumalek,  etc.,  etc. 
■ — O  old  man,  O  virgin,  get  out  of  the  way  on  the  right  —  O 
virgin,  O  old  man,  get  out  of  the  way  on  the  left, —  this  Eng- 
lishman comes,  he  comes,  he  comes ! "  The  narrow  alley 
which  these  shouts  cleared  for  my  passage  made  it  possible, 
though  difficult,  to  go  on  for  a  long  way  without  touching  a 
single  person,  and  my  endeavors  to  avoid  such  contact  were 
a  sort  of  game  for  me  in  my  loneliness,  which  was  not  without 
interest.  If  I  got  through  a  street  without  being  touched,  I 
won ;  if  I  was  touched,  I  lost,  — •  lost  a  deuce  of  a  stake,  ac- 
cording to  the  theory  of  the  Europeans ;  but  that  I  deemed  to 
be  all  nonsense,  —  I  only  lost  that  game,  and  would  certainly 
win  the  next. 

There  is  not  much  in  the  way  of  public  buildings  to  admire 
at  Cairo,  but  I  saw  one  handsome  mosque,  to  which  an  in- 
structive history  is  attached.  A  Hindostanee  merchant,  hav- 
ing amassed  an  immense  fortune,  settled  in  Cairo,  and  soon 
found  that  his  riches  in  the  then  state  of  the  political  world 
gave  him  vast  power  in  the  city  —  power,  however,  the  exer- 
cise of  which  was  much  restrained  by  the  counteracting  influ- 
ence of  other  wealthy  men.  With  a  view  to  extinguish  every 
attempt  at  rivalry  the  Hindostanee  merchant  built  this  mag- 
nificent mosque  at  his  own  expense ;  when  the  work  was  com- 
plete, he  invited  all  the  leading  men  of  the  city  to  join  him 
in  prayer  within  the  walls  of  the  newly  built  temple,  and  he 
then  caused  to  be  massacred  all  those  who  were  sufficiently 
influential  to  cause  him  any  jealousy  or  uneasiness  —  in  short, 
all  "the  respectable  men"  of  the  place;  after  this  he  pos- 
sessed undisputed  power  in  the  city,  and  was  greatly  revered 
—  he  is  revered  to  this  day.  It  seemed  to  me  that  there  was 
a  touching  simplicity  in  the  mode  which  this  man  so  success- 
fully adopted  for  gaining  the  confidence  and  good-will  of  his 
fellow  citizens.  There  seems  to  be  some  improbability  in  the 
story  (though  not  nearly  so  gross  as  it  might  appear  to  a 
European  ignorant  of  the  East,  for  witness  Mehemet  All's 
destruction  of  the  Mamelukes,  a  closely  similar  act  and  at- 

26 


l62  KINGLAKE 

tended  with  the  like  brilliant  success  ^),  but  even  if  this  story 
be  false,  as  a  mere  fact,  it  is  perfectly  true  as  an  illustration 
—  it  is  a  true  exposition  of  the  means  by  which  the  respect 
and  affection  of  Orientals  may  be  conciliated. 

I  ascended  one  day  to  the  citadel,  which  commands  a 
superb  view  of  the  town.  The  fanciful  and  elaborate  gilt 
work  of  the  many  minarets  gives  a  light  and  florid  grace  to 
the  city  as  seen  from  this  height,  but  before  you  can  look 
for  many  seconds  at  such  things,  your  eyes  are  drawn  west- 
ward—  drawn  westward,  and  over  the  Nile,  till  they  rest 
with  a  heavy  stare  upon  the  massive  enormities  of  the 
Ghizeh  pyramids.  I  saw  within  the  fortress  many  yoke  of 
men,  all  haggard  and  woebegone,  and  a  kennel  of  very 
fine  lions  well  fed  and  flourishing ;  I  say  yoke  of  men,  for 
the  poor  fellows  were  working  together  in  bonds ;  I  say  a 
kennel  of  lions,  for  the  beasts  were  not  enclosed  in  cages, 
but  simply  chained  up  like  dogs. 

1  went  round  the  Bazaars ;  it  seemed  to  me  that  pipes  and 
arms  were  cheaper  here  than  at  Constantinople,  and  I  should 
advise  you,  therefore,  if  you  go  to  both  places,  to  prefer  the 
market  of  Cairo.  I  had  previously  bought  several  of  such 
things  at  Constantinople,  and  did  not  choose  to  encumber 
myself,  or,  to  speak  more  honestly,  I  did  not  choose  to  dis- 
encumber my  purse,  by  making  any  more  purchases.  In 
the  open  slave  market  I  saw  about  fifty  girls  exposed  for 
sale,  but  all  of  them  black,  or  "invisible"  brown.  A  slave 
agent  took  me  to  some  rooms  in  the  upper  story  of  the 
building,  and  also  into  several  obscure  houses  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, with  a  view  to  show  me  some  white  women.  The 
owners  raised  various  objections  to  the  display  of  their  ware, 
and  well  they  might,  for  I  had  not  the  least  notion  of  pur- 
chasing; some  refused  on  account  of  the  illegality  of  the 
proceeding,^  and  others  declared  that  all  transactions  of  this 
sort  were  completely  out  of  the  question  as  long  as  the 
Plague  was  raging.  I  only  succeeded  in  seeing  one  white 
slave  who  was  for  sale,  but  on  this  one  the  owner  affected 
to  set  an  immense  value,  and  raised  my  expectations  to  a 

^  Mehemet  Ali  invited  the  Mamelukes  to  a  feast,  and  murdered  them  in 
the  Banquet  Hall. 

2  It  is  not  strictly  lawful  to  sell  white  slaves  to  a  Christian. 


EOTHEN  163 

high  pitch,  by  saying  that  the  girl  was  Circassian,  and  was 
"fair  as  the  full  moon."  After  a  good  deal  of  delay,  I  was 
at  last  led  into  a  room,  at  the  farther  end  of  which  was 
that  mass  of  white  linen  which  indicates  an  Eastern  woman ; 
she  was  bidden  to  uncover  her  face,  and  I  presently  saw  that 
though  very  far  from  being  good-looking,  according  to  my 
notion  of  beauty,  she  had  not  been  inaptly  described  by  the 
man  who  compared  her  to  the  full  moon,  for  her  large 
face  was  perfectly  round  and  perfectly  white.  Though  very 
young,  she  was  nevertheless  extremely  fat.  She  gave  me 
the  idea  of  having  been  got  up  for  sale  —  of  having  been 
fattened  and  whitened  by  medicines,  or  by  some  peculiar 
diet.  I  was  firmly  determined  not  to  see  any  more  of  her 
than  the  face ;  she  was  perhaps  disgusted  at  this,  my  virtu- 
ous resolve,  as  well  as  with  my  personal  appearance  —  per- 
haps she  saw  my  distaste  and  disappointment;  perhaps  she 
wished  to  gain  favor  with  her  owner,  by  showing  her  attach- 
ment to  his  faith ;  at  all  events  she  halloed  out  very  lustily 
and  very  decidedly  that  "  she  would  not  be  bought  by  the 
Infidel." 

Whilst  I  remained  at  Cairo  I  thought  it  worth  while  to 
see  something  of  the  Magicians,  who  may  be  considered  as 
it  were  the  descendants  of  those  who  contended  so  stoutly 
against  the  superior  power  of  Aaron.  I  therefore  sent  for 
an  old  man  who  was  held  to  be  the  chief  of  the  Magicians, 
and  desired  him  to  show  me  the  wonders  of  his  art.  The 
old  man  looked  and  dressed  his  character  exceedingly  well : 
the  vast  turban,  the  flowing  beard,  and  the  ample  robes 
were  all  that  one  could  wish  in  the  way  of  appearance.  The 
first  experiment  (a  very  stale  one)  which  he  attempted  to 
perform  for  me  was  that  of  attempting  to  show  the  forms 
and  faces  of  my  absent  friends,  not  to  me,  but  to  a  boy 
brought  in  from  the  streets  for  the  purpose,  and  said  to  be 
chosen  at  random.  A  mangal  (pan  of  burning  charcoal) 
was  brought  into  my  room,  and  the  Magician,  bending  over 
it,  sprinkled  upon  the  fire  some  substances  which  must  have 
consisted  partly  of  spices  or  sweetly  burning  woods,  for 
immediately  a  fragrant  smoke  arose,  which  curled  round  the 
bending  form  of  the  Wizard,  the  while  that  he  pronounced 
his  first  incantations;    when  these  were  over,  the  boy  was 


1 64  KINGLAKE 

made  to  sit  down,  and  a  common  green  shade  was  bound 
over  his  brow ;  then  the  Wizard  took  ink,  and,  still  continu- 
ing his  incantations,  wrote  certain  mysterious  figures  upon 
the  boy's  palm,  and  directed  him  to  rivet  his  attention  to 
these  marks,  without  looking  aside  for  an  instant;  again  the 
incantations  proceeded,  and  after  a  while  the  boy,  being 
seemingly  a  little  agitated,  was  asked  whether  he  saw  any- 
thing on  the  palm  of  his  hand ;  he  declared  that  he  saw  a 
kind  of  military  procession  with  flags  and  banners,  which 
he  described  rather  minutely.  I  was  then  called  upon  to 
name  the  absent  person  whose  form  was  to  be  made  visible. 
I  named  Keate.  You  were  not  at  Eton,  and  I  must  tell 
you,  therefore,  what  manner  of  man  it  was  that  I  named, 
though  I  think  you  must  have  some  idea  of  him  already, 
for  wherever  from  utmost  Canada  to  Bundelcund  —  wherever 
there  was  the  whitewashed  wall  of  an  officer's  room,  or  of 
any  other  apartment  in  which  English  gentlemen  are  forced 
to  kick  their  heels,  there,  likely  enough  (in  the  days  of  his 
reign),  the  head  of  Keate  would  be  seen  scratched,  or  drawn 
with  those  various  degrees  of  skill  which  one  observes  in 
the  representations  of  Saints.  Anybody,  without  the  least 
notion  of  drawing,  could  still  draw  a  speaking,  nay,  scolding, 
likeness  of  Keate.  If  you  had  no  pencil,  you  could  draw 
him  well  enough  with  a  poker,  or  the  leg  of  a  chair,  or  the 
smoke  of  a  candle.  He  was  little  more  (if  more  at  all)  than 
five  feet  in  height,  and  was  not  very  great  in  girth,  but  in 
this  space  was  concentrated  the  pluck  of  ten  battalions.  He 
had  a  really  noble  voice,  which  he  could  modulate  with  great 
skill,  but  he  had  also  the  power  of  quacking  like  an  angry 
duck,  and  he  almost  always  adopted  this  mode  of  communi- 
cation in  order  to  inspire  respect ;  he  was  a  capital  scholar, 
but  his  ingenuous  learning  had  not  "  softened  his  manners," 
and  had  "  permitted  them  to  be  fierce "  —  tremendously 
fierce ;  he  had  the  most  complete  command  over  his  temper 
—  I  mean  over  his  good  temper,  which  he  scarcely  ever 
allowed  to  appear;  you  could  not  put  him  out  of  humor  — 
that  is,  out  of  the  ill  humor  which  he  thought  to  be  fitting 
for  a  head  master.  His  red,  shaggy  eyebrows  were  so  promi- 
nent that  he  habitually  used  them  as  arms  and  hands  for 
the   purpose  of  pointing   out  any  object  toward  which  he 


EOTHEN  165 

wished  to  direct  attention;  the  rest  of  his  features  were 
equally  striking  in  their  way,  and  were  all  and  all  his  own ; 
he  wore  a  fancy  dress,  partly  resembling  the  costume  of 
Napoleon,  and  partly  that  of  a  widow  woman.  I  could  not 
by  any  possibility  have  named  anybody  more  decidedly  dif- 
fering in  appearance  from  the  rest  of  the  human  race. 

"  Whom  do  you  name ? "  —  "I  name  John  Keate."  —  "  Now, 
what  do  you  see } "  said  the  Wizard  to  the  boy.  —  "I  see," 
answered  the  boy,  "  I  see  a  fair  girl  with  golden  hair,  blue 
eyes,  pallid  face,  rosy  lips."  There  was  a  shot !  I  shouted 
out  my  laughter  to  the  horror  of  the  Wizard,  who,  perceiving 
the  grossness  of  his  failure,  declared  that  the  boy  must  have 
known  sin  (for  none  but  the  innocent  can  see  truth),  and 
accordingly  kicked  him  down-stairs. 

One  or  two  other  boys  were  tried,  but  none  could  "see 
truth";  they  all  made  sadly  "bad  shots." 

Notwithstanding  the  failure  of  these  experiments,  I  wished 
to  see  what  sort  of  mummery  my  Magician  would  practise, 
if  I  called  upon  him  to  show  me  some  performances  of  a 
higher  order  than  those  which  had  been  attempted ;  I  there- 
fore entered  into  a  treaty  with  him  in  virtue  of  which  he  was 
to  descend  with  me  into  the  tombs  near  the  Pyramids,  and 
there  evoke  the  Devil.  The  negotiation  lasted  some  time, 
for  Dthemetri,  as  in  duty  bound,  tried  to  beat  down  the 
Wizard  as  much  as  he  could,  and  the  Wizard,  on  his  part, 
manfully  stuck  up  for  his  price,  declaring  that  to  raise  the 
Devil  was  really  no  joke,  and  insinuating  that  to  do  so  was 
an  awesome  crime.  I  let  Dthemetri  have  his  way  in  the 
negotiation,  but  I  felt  in  reality  very  indifferent  about  the 
sum  to  be  paid,  and  for  this  reason,  namely,  that  the  pay- 
ment (except  a  very  small  present,  which  I  might  make  or 
not,  as  I  chose)  was  to  be  contingent  on  success.  At  length 
the  bargain  was  made,  and  it  was  arranged  that  after  a  few 
days,  to  be  allowed  for  preparation,  the  Wizard  should  raise 
the  Devil  for  two  pounds  ten,  play  or  pay  —  no  Devil,  no 
piasters. 

The  Wizard  failed  to  keep  his  appointment.  I  sent  to  know 
why  the  deuce  he  had  not  come  to  raise  the  Devil.  The  truth 
was  that  my  Mohammed  had  gone  to  the  mountain.  The 
Plague  had  seized  him,  and  he  died. 


1 66  KINGLAKE 

Although  the  Plague  had  now  spread  terrible  havoc  around 
him,  I  did  not  see  very  plainly  any  corresponding  change  in 
the  looks  of  the  streets  until  the  seventh  day  after  my  arrival ; 
I  then  first  observed  that  the  city  was  silenced.  There  were 
no  outward  signs  of  Despair,  nor  of  violent  terror ;  but  many 
of  the  voices  that  had  swelled  the  busy  hum  of  men  were  al- 
ready hushed  in  death,  and  the  survivors,  so  used  to  scream 
and  screech  in  their  earnestness  whenever  they  bought  or 
sold,  now  showed  an  unwonted  indifference  about  the  affairs 
of  this  world  ;  it  was  less  worth  while  for  men  to  haggle,  and 
haggle,  and  crack  the  sky  with  noisy  bargains,  when  the  Great 
Commander  was  there,  who  could  "  pay  all  their  debts  with 
the  roll  of  his  drum." 

At  this  time  (the  year  was  1835),  I  was  informed  that  of 
twenty-five  thousand  people  at  Alexandria,  twelve  thousand 
had  died  already ;  the  Destroyer  had  come  rather  later  to 
Cairo,  but  there  was  nothing  of  weariness  in  his  strides.  The 
deaths  came  faster  than  ever  they  befell  in  the  Plague  of 
London,  but  the  calmness  of  Orientals  under  such  visitations, 
and  the  habit  of  using  biers  for  interment,  instead  of  burying 
coffins  along  with  the  bodies,  rendered  it  practicable  to  dis- 
pose of  the  Dead  in  the  usual  way,  without  shocking  the  peo- 
ple by  any  unaccustomed  spectacle  of  horror.  There  was  no 
tumbling  of  bodies  into  carts,  as  in  the  Plague  of  Florence 
and  the  Plague  of  London ;  every  man,  according  to  his  sta- 
tion, was  properly  buried,  and  that  in  the  usual  way,  except 
that  he  went  to  his  grave  at  a  more  hurried  pace  than  might 
have  been  adopted  under  ordinary  circumstances. 

The  funerals  which  poured  through  the  streets  were  not 
the  only  public  evidence  of  deaths.  In  Cairo  this  custom  pre- 
vails ;  at  the  instant  of  a  man's  death  (if  his  property  is 
sufficient  to  justify  the  expense),  professional  howlers  are 
employed ;  I  believe  that  these  persons  are  brought  near  to 
the  dying  man,  when  his  end  appears  to  be  approaching,  and 
the  moment  that  life  is  gone  they  lift  up  their  voices,  and  send 
forth  a  loud  wail  from  the  chamber  of  Death.  Thus  I  knew 
when  my  near  neighbors  died ;  sometimes  the  howls  were 
near ;  sometimes  more  distant.  Once  I  was  awakened  in  the 
night  by  the  wail  of  death  in  the  next  house,  and  another  time 
by  a  like  howl  from  the  house  opposite ;  and  there  were  two 


EOTHEN  167 

or  three  minutes,  I  recollect,  during  which  the  howl  seemed 
to  be  actually  running  along  the  street. 

I  happened  to  be  rather  teased  at  this  time  by  a  sore  throat, 
and  thought  it  would  be  well  to  get  it  cured,  if  I  could,  before 
I  again  started  on  my  travels.  I  therefore  inquired  for  a  Frank 
doctor,  and  was  informed  that  the  only  one  then  at  Cairo  was 
a  young  Bolognese  Refugee,  who  was  so  poor  that  he  had  not 
been  able  to  take  flight,  as  the  other  medical  men  had  done. 
At  such  a  time  as  this,  it  was  out  of  the  question  to  send  for 
a  European  physician ;  a  person  thus  summoned  would  be 
sure  to  suppose  that  the  patient  was  ill  of  the  Plague,  and 
would  decline  to  come.  I  therefore  rode  to  the  young  doctor's 
residence ;  after  experiencing  some  little  difficulty  in  finding 
where  to  look  for  him,  I  ascended  a  flight  or  two  of  stairs,  and 
knocked  at  his  door.  No  one  came  immediately,  but  after 
some  little  delay  the  Medico  himself  opened  the  door  and  ad- 
mitted me.  I,  of  course,  made  him  understand  that  I  had 
come  to  consult  him,  but  before  entering  upon  my  throat 
grievance,  I  accepted  a  chair,  and  exchanged  a  sentence  or 
two  of  commonplace  conversation.  Now,  the  natural  com- 
monplace of  the  city  at  this  season  was  of  a  gloomy  sort  — 
"  Come  va  la  peste  .''  "  (How  goes  the  plague.?),  and  this  was 
precisely  the  question  I  put.  A  deep  sigh,  and  the  words 
"Sette  cento  per  giorno,  Signor"  (Seven  hundred  a  day),  pro- 
nounced in  a  tone  of  the  deepest  sadness  and  dejection,  were 
the  answer  I  received.  The  day  was  not  oppressively  hot,  yet 
I  saw  that  the  doctor  was  transpiring  profusely,  and  even  the 
outside  surface  of  the  thick  shawl  dressing-gown  in  which  he 
had  wrapped  himself  appeared  to  be  moist ;  he  was  a  hand- 
some, pleasant-looking  young  fellow,  but  the  deep  melancholy 
of  his  tone  did  not  tempt  me  to  prolong  the  conversation,  and 
without  further  delay  I  requested  that  my  throat  might  be 
looked  at.  The  Medico  held  my  chin  in  the  usual  way,  and 
examined  my  throat ;  he  then  wrote  me  a  prescription,  and 
almost  immediately  afterwards  I  bade  him  farewell ;  but  as  he 
conducted  me  toward  the  door  I  observed  an  expression  of 
strange  and  unhappy  watchfulness  in  his  rolling  eyes.  It  was 
not  the  next  day,  but  the  next  day  but  one,  if  I  rightly  re- 
member, that  I  sent  to  request  another  interview  with  my  doc- 
tor ;  in  due  time  Dthemetri,  who  was  my  messenger,  returned, 


1 68  KINGLAKE 

looking  sadly  aghast  —  he  had  "met  the  Medico,"  for  so  he 
phrased  it,  "coming  out  from  his  house  —  in  a  bier  !  " 

It  was  of  course  plain  that  when  the  poor  Bolognese  was 
looking  at  my  throat,  and  almost  mingling  his  breath  with 
mine,  he  was  stricken  of  the  Plague.  I  suppose  that  the  vio- 
lent sweat  in  which  I  found  him  had  been  produced  by  some 
medicine  which  he  must  have  taken  in  the  hope  of  curing  him- 
self. The  peculiar  rolling  of  the  eyes  which  I  had  remarked 
is,  I  believe,  to  experienced  observers,  a  pretty  sure  test  of  the 
Plague.  A  Russian  acquaintance  of  mine,  speaking  from  the 
information  of  men  who  had  made  the  Turkish  campaigns  of 
1828  and  1829,  told  me  that  by  this  sign  the  officers  of  Sabal- 
kansky's  force  were  able  to  make  out  the  Plague-stricken  sol- 
diers with  a  good  deal  of  certainty. 

It  so  happened  that  most  of  the  people  with  whom  I  had 
anything  to  do,  during  my  stay  at  Cairo,  were  seized  with  the 
Plague,  and  all  these  died.  Since  I  had  been  for  a  long  time 
en  route  before  I  reached  Egypt,  and  was  about  to  start  again 
for  another  long  journey  over  the  desert,  there  were  of  course 
many  little  matters  touching  my  wardrobe,  and  my  traveling 
equipments,  which  required  to  be  attended  to  whilst  I  re- 
mained in  the  city.  It  happened  so  many  times  that  Dthe- 
metri's  orders  in  respect  to  these  matters  were  frustrated  by 
the  deaths  of  the  tradespeople,  and  others  whom  he  employed, 
that  at  last  I  became  quite  accustomed  to  the  peculiar  manner 
which  he  assumed  when  he  prepared  to  announce  a  new  death 
to  me.  The  poor  fellow  naturally  supposed  that  I  should  feel 
some  uneasiness  at  hearing  of  the  "  accidents  "  which  hap- 
pened to  persons  employed  by  me,  and  he  therefore  commu- 
nicated their  deaths,  as  though  they  were  the  deaths  of  friends ; 
he  would  cast  down  his  eyes,  and  look  like  a  man  abashed,  and 
then  gently,  and  with  a  mournful  gesture,  allow  the  words, 
"  Morto,  Signor,"  to  come  through  his  lips.  I  don't  know 
how  many  of  such  instances  occurred,  but  they  were  several, 
and  besides  these  (as  I  told  you  before),  my  banker,  my  doc- 
tor, my  landlord,  and  my  magician  all  died  of  the  Plague.  A 
lad  who  acted  as  a  helper  in  the  house  which  I  occupied  lost 
a  brother  and  a  sister  within  a  few  hours.  Out  of  my  two  es- 
tablished donkey  boys  one  died.  I  did  not  hear  of  any  instance 
in  which  a  Plague-stricken  patient  had  recovered. 


EOTHEN  169 

Going  out  one  morning,  I  met  unexpectedly  the  scorching 
breath  of  the  Khamsin  wind,  and,  fearing  that  I  should  faint 
under  the  horrible  sensations  which  it  caused,  I  returned  to  my 
rooms.  Reflecting,  however,  that  I  might  have  to  encounter 
this  wind  in  the  desert,  where  there  would  be  no  possibility  of 
avoiding  it,  I  thought  it  would  be  better  to  brave  it  once  more 
in  the  city,  and  to  try  whether  I  could  really  bear  it  or  not.  I 
therefore  mounted  my  ass,  and  rode  to  old  Cairo,  and  along 
the  gardens  by  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  The  wind  was  hot  to 
the  touch,  as  though  it  came  from  a  furnace ;  it  blew  strongly, 
but  yet  with  such  perfect  steadiness,  that  the  trees  bending 
under  its  force  remained  fixed  in  the  same  curves  without 
perceptibly  waving ;  the  whole  sky  was  obscured  by  a  veil  of 
yellowish  gray,  which  shut  out  the  face  of  the  sun.  The 
streets  were  utterly  silent,  being  indeed  almost  entirely  deserted, 
and  not  without  cause ;  for  the  scorching  blast,  whilst  it  fevers 
the  blood,  closes  up  the  pores  of  the  skin,  and  is  terribly  dis- 
tressing, therefore,  to  every  animal  that  encounters  it.  I  re- 
turned to  my  rooms  dreadfully  ill.  My  head  ached  with  a 
burning  pain,  and  my  pulse  bounded  quick,  and  fitfully ;  but 
perhaps  (as  in  the  instance  of  the  poor  Levantine,  whose  death 
I  was  mentioning)  the  fear  and  excitement  which  I  felt  in 
trying  my  own  wrist  may  have  made  my  blood  flutter  the 
faster. 

It  is  a  thoroughly  well-believed  theory,  that  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  Plague  you  can't  be  ill  of  any  other  febrile 
malady ;  an  unpleasant  privilege  that !  for  ill  I  was,  and  ill  of 
fever,  and  I  anxiously  wished  that  the  ailment  might  turn  out 
to  be  anything  rather  than  the  Plague.  I  had  some  right  to 
surmise  that  my  illness  may  have  been  merely  the  effect  of 
the  hot  wind,  and  this  notion  was  encouraged  by  the  elasticity 
of  my  spirits,  and  by  a  strong  forefeeling  that  much  of  my 
destined  life  in  this  world  was  yet  to  come,  and  yet  to  be  ful- 
filled. That  was  my  instinctive  belief,  but  when  I  carefully 
weighed  the  probabilities  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other,  I 
could  not  help  seeing  that  the  strength  of  argument  was  all 
against  me.  There  was  a  strong  antecedent  likelihood  in 
favor  of  my  being  struck  by  the  same  blow  as  the  rest  of  the 
people  who  had  been  dying  around  me.  Besides,  it  occurred  to 
me,  that,  after  all,  the  universal  opinion  of  the  Europeans  upon 


170  KINGLAKE 

a  medical  question,  such  as  that  of  contagion,  might  probably 
be  correct,  and  if  it  were,  I  was  so  thoroughly  "compromised," 
and  especially  by  the  touch  and  breath  of  the  dying  Medico, 
that  I  had  no  right  to  expect  any  other  fate  than  that  which 
now  seemed  to  have  overtaken  me.  Balancing  as  well  as  I 
could  all  the  considerations  which  hope  and  fear  suggested,  I 
slowly  and  reluctantly  came  to  the  conclusion  that  according 
to  all  merely  reasonable  probability  the  Plague  had  come 
upon  me. 

You  would  suppose  that  this  conviction  would  have  induced 
me  to  write  a  few  farewell  lines  to  those  who  were  dearest,  and 
that  having  done  that,  I  should  have  turned  my  thoughts  to- 
ward the  world  to  come.  Such,  however,  was  not  the  case ;  I 
believe  that  the  prospect  of  death  often  brings  with  it  strong 
anxieties  about  matters  of  comparatively  trivial  import,  and 
certainly  with  me  the  whole  energy  of  the  mind  was  directed 
toward  the  one  petty  object  of  concealing  my  illness  until  the 
latest  possible  moment  —  until  the  delirious  stage.  I  did  not 
believe  that  either  Mysseri,  or  Dthemetri,  who  had  served 
me  so  faithfully  in  all  trials,  would  have  deserted  me  (as  most 
Europeans  are  wont  to  do)  when  they  knew  that  I  was 
stricken  by  Plague;  but  I  shrank  from  the  idea  of  putting 
them  to  this  test,  and  I  dreaded  the  consternation  which  the 
knowledge  of  my  illness  would  be  sure  to  occasion. 

I  was  very  ill,  indeed,  at  the  moment  when  my  dinner  was 
served,  and  my  soul  sickened  at  the  sight  of  the  food;  but  I  had 
luckily  the  habit  of  dispensing  with  the  attendance  of  servants 
during  my  meal,  and  as  soon  as  I  was  left  alone  I  made  a  mel- 
ancholy calculation  of  the  quantity  of  food  which  I  should  have 
eaten  if  I  had  been  in  my  usual  health,  and  filled  my  plates 
accordingly,  and  gave  myself  salt,  and  so  on,  as  though  I  were 
going  to  dine ;  I  then  transferred  the  viands  to  a  piece  of  the 
omnipresent  Times  newspaper,  and  hid  them  away  in  a  cup- 
board, for  it  was  not  yet  night,  and  I  dared  not  to  throw 
the  food  into  the  street  until  darkness  came.  I  did  not  at 
all  relish  this  process  of  fictitious  dining,  but  at  length 
the  cloth  was  removed,  and  I  gladly  reclined  on  my  divan  (I 
would  not  lie  down),  with  the  "Arabian  Nights"  in  my  hand. 

I  had  a  feeling  that  tea  would  be  a  capital  thing  for  me, 
but  I  would  not  order  it  until  the  usual  hour.     When  at  last 


EOTHEN 


171 


the  time  came,  I  drank  deep  drafts  from  the  fragrant  cup. 
The  effect  was  almost  instantaneous.  A  plenteous  sweat 
burst  through  my  skin,  and  watered  my  clothes  through  and 
through.  I  kept  myself  thickly  covered.  The  hot,  torment- 
ing weight  which  had  been  loading  my  brain  was  slowly 
heaved  away.  The  fever  was  extinguished.  I  felt  a  new 
buoyancy  of  spirits,  and  an  unusual  activity  of  mind.  I  went 
into  my  bed  under  a  load  of  thick  covering,  and  when  the 
morning  came,  and  I  asked  myself  how  I  was,  I  found  that 
I  was  thoroughly  well. 

I  was  very  anxious  to  procure,  if  possible,  some  medical 
advice  for  Mysseri,  whose  illness  prevented  my  departure. 
Every  one  of  the  European  practising  doctors,  of  whom  there 
had  been  many,  had  either  died  or  fled ;  it  was  said,  however, 
that  there  was  an  Englishman  in  the  medical  service  of  the 
Pasha,  who  quietly  remained  at  his  post,  but  that  he  never  en- 
gaged in  private  practise.  I  determined  to  try  if  I  could  obtain 
assistance  in  this  quarter.  I  did  not  venture  at  first,  and  at  such 
a  time  as  this,  to  ask  him  to  visit  a  servant  who  was  prostrate  on 
the  bed  of  sickness ;  but  thinking  that  I  might  thus  gain  an  op- 
portunity of  persuading  him  to  attend  Mysseri,  I  wrote  a  note 
mentioning  my  own  affair  of  the  sore  throat,  and  asking  for 
the  benefit  of  his  medical  advice ;  he  instantly  followed  back 
my  messenger  and  was  at  once  shown  up  into  my  room  ;  I 
entreated  him  to  stand  off,  telling  him  fairly  how  deeply  I  was 
"  compromised,"  and  especially  by  my  contact  with  a  person 
actually  ill,  and  since  dead  of  Plague.  The  generous  fellow, 
with  a  good-humored  laugh  at  the  terrors  of  the  contagionists, 
marched  straight  up  to  me,  and  forcibly  seized  my  hand,  and 
shook  it  with  manly  violence.  I  felt  grateful  indeed,  and 
swelled  with  fresh  pride  of  race,  because  that  my  countryman 
could  carry  himself  so  nobly.  He  soon  cured  Mysseri,  as 
well  as  me,  and  all  this  he  did  from  no  other  motives  than 
the  pleasure  of  doing  a  kindness,  and  the  delight  of  braving 
a  danger. 

At  length  the  great  difficulty  ^  which  I  had  had  in  procuring 
beasts  for  my  departure  was  overcome,  and  now,  too,  I  was  to 
have  the  new  excitement  of  traveling  on  dromedaries.     With 

^  The  difficulty  was  occasioned  by  the  immense  exertions  which  the 
Pasha  was  making  to  collect  camels  for  military  purposes. 


1/2  KINGLAKE 

two  of  these  beasts,  and  three  camels,  I  gladly  wound  my  way 
from  out  of  the  pest-stricken  city.  As  I  passed  through  the 
streets,  I  observed  a  fanatical-looking  elder,  who  stretched 
forth  his  arms,  and  lifted  up  his  voice  in  a  speech  which  seemed 
to  have  some  reference  to  me  ;  requiring  an  interpretation,  I 
found  that  the  man  had  said,  "  The  Pasha  seeks  camels  and 
he  finds  them  not  —  the  Englishman  says,  '  Let  camels  be 
brought,'  and  behold  —  there  they  are  !  " 

I  no  sooner  breathed  the  free,  wholesome  air  of  the  desert, 
than  I  felt  that  a  great  burden,  which  I  had  been  scarcely  con- 
scious of  bearing,  was  lifted  away  from  my  mind.  For  nearly 
three  weeks  I  had  lived  under  peril  of  death  ;  the  peril  ceased, 
and  not  till  then  did  I  know  how  much  alarm  and  anxiety  I 
had  really  been  suffering. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

The  Pyramids 

1WENT  to  see  and  to  explore  the  Pyramids. 
Familiar  to  one  from  the  days  of  early  childhood  are 
the  forms  of  the  Egyptian  Pyramids,  and  now,  as  I  ap- 
proached them  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  I  had  no  print, 
no  picture  before  me,  and  yet  the  old  shapes  were  there ; 
there  was  no  change ;  they  were  just  as  I  had  always  known 
them.  I  straightened  myself  in  my  stirrups,  and  strove  to 
persuade  my  understanding  that  this  was  real  Egypt,  and  that 
those  angles  which  stood  up  between  me  and  the  west  were 
of  harder  stuff,  and  more  ancient,  than  the  paper  pyramids  of 
the  green  portfolio.  Yet  it  was  not  till  I  came  to  the  base 
of  the  great  Pyramid,  that  reality  began  to  weigh  upon  my 
mind.  Strange  to  say,  the  bigness  of  the  distinct  blocks  of 
stone  was  the  first  sign  by  which  I  attained  to  feel  the  im- 
mensity of  the  whole  pile.  When  I  came,  and  trod,  and 
touched  with  my  hands,  and  climbed,  in  order  that  by  climb- 
ing I  might  come  to  the  top  of  one  single  stone,  then,  and 
almost  suddenly,  a  cold  sense  and  understanding  of  the 
Pyramid's  enormity  came  down  overcasting  my  brain. 

Now  try  to  endure  this  homely,  sick-nurse-ish  illustration  of 
the  effect  produced  upon  one's  mind  by  the  mere  vastness  of 
the  great  Pyramid :  when  I  was  very  young  (between  the 
ages,  I  believe,  of  three  and  five  years  old),  being  then  of 
delicate  health,  I  was  often  in  time  of  night  the  victim  of  a 
strange  kind  of  mental  oppression ;  I  lay  in  my  bed  perfectly 
conscious,  and  with  open  eyes,  but  without  power  to  speak, 
or  to  move,  and  all  the  while  my  brain  was  oppressed  to  dis- 
traction by  the  presence  of  a  single  and  abstract  idea,  — the 
idea  of  solid  Immensity.  It  seemed  to  me  in  my  agonies, 
that  the  horror  of  this  visitation  arose  from  its  coming  upon 
me  without  form  or  shape  —  that  the  close  presence  of  the 

173 


174  KINGLAKE 

direst  monster  ever  bred  in  hell  would  have  been  a  thousand 
times  more  tolerable  than  that  simple  idea  of  solid  size ;  my 
aching  mind  was  fixed  and  riveted  down  upon  the  mere 
quality  of  vastness,  vastness,  vastness,  and  was  not  permitted 
to  invest  with  it  any  particular  object.  If  I  could  have  done 
so,  the  torment  would  have  ceased.  When  at  last  I  was 
roused  from  this  state  of  suffering,  I  could  not  of  course  in 
those  days  (knowing  no  verbal  metaphysics,  and  no  metaphys- 
ics at  all,  except  by  the  dreadful  experience  of  an  abstract 
idea),  I  could  not  of  course  find  words  to  describe  the  nature 
of  my  sensations,  and  even  now  I  cannot  explain  why  it  is 
that  the  forced  contemplation  of  a  mere  quality  distinct  from 
matter  should  be  so  terrible.  Well,  now  my  eyes  saw  and 
knew,  and  my  hands  and  my  feet  informed  my  understanding, 
that  there  was  nothing  at  all  abstract  about  the  great  Pyramid, 

—  it  was  a  big  triangle,  sufficiently  concrete,  easy  to  see,  and 
rough  to  the  touch ;  it  could  not,  of  course,  affect  me  with 
the  peculiar  sensation  which  I  have  been  talking  of,  but  yet 
there  was  something  akin  to  that  old  nightmare  agony  in  the 
terrible  completeness  with  which  a  mere  mass  of  masonry 
could  fill  and  load  my  mind. 

And  Time,  too ;  the  remoteness  of  its  origin,  no  less  than 
the  enormity  of  its  proportions,  screens  an  Egyptian  Pyra- 
mid from  the  easy  and  familiar  contact  of  our  modern  minds  ; 
at  its  base  the  common  Earth  ends,  and  all  above  is  a  world 

—  one  not  created  of  God  —  not  seeming  to  be  made  by 
men's  hands,  but  rather  the  sheer  giant  work  of  some  old 
dismal  age  weighing  down  this  younger  planet. 

Fine  sayings !  but  the  truth  seems  to  be,  after  all,  that  the 
Pyramids  are  quite  of  this  world ;  that  they  were  piled  up 
into  the  air  for  the  realization  of  some  kingly  crotchets 
about  immortality,  —  some  priestly  longing  for  burial  fees  ; 
and  that  as  for  the  building  —  they  were  built  like  coral  rocks 
by  swarms  of  insects  —  by  swarms  of  poor  Egyptians,  who 
were  not  only  the  abject  tools  and  slaves  of  power,  but  who 
also  ate  onions  for  the  reward  of  their  immortal  labors !  ^ 
The  Pyramids  are  quite  of  this  world. 

I,  of  course,  ascended  to  the  summit  of  the  great  Pyramid, 

^  Herodotus,  in  an  after-age,  stood  by  with  his  note-book  and  got,  as  he 
thought,  the  exact  returns  of  all  the  rations  served  out. 


aKK-t?!;)^^.}^'^'  r. ' 


J'YRAMIDS   OF  GIZEH. 
Photogravure  from  a  painting  by  j.  Douglas  Woodward 


174 


mtempJ 


cf  it-. 


een  a  t}. 

^    the  mere 

•ed 
ne 
as 


bstract 


ith 


jasonry 


Hove  !s 


>i  poor  Eg; 


ne  fw. 


EOTHEN  175 

and  also  explored  its  chambers,  but  these  I  need  not  describe. 
The  first  time  that  I  went  to  the  Pyramids  of  Ghizeh,  there 
were  a  number  of  Arabs  hanging  about  in  its  neighborhood, 
and  wanting  to  receive  presents  on  various  pretenses ;  their 
Sheik  was  with  them.  There  was  also  present  an  ill-looking 
fellow  in  soldier's  uniform.  This  man  on  my  departure 
claimed  a  reward,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  maintained 
order  and  decorum  amongst  the  Arabs ;  his  claim  was  not 
considered  valid  by  my  Dragoman,  and  was  rejected  accord- 
ingly. My  donkey  boys  afterwards  said  they  had  overheard 
this  fellow  propose  to  the  Sheik  to  put  me  to  death  whilst  I 
was  in  the  interior  of  the  great  Pyramid,  and  to  share  with 
him  the  booty ;  fancy  a  struggle  for  life  in  one  of  those 
burial  chambers,  with  acres  and  acres  of  solid  masonry  be- 
tween oneself  and  the  daylight!  I  felt  exceedingly  glad 
that  I  had  not  made  the  rascal  a  present. 

I  visited  the  very  Ancient  Pyramids  of  Aboucir  and  Sak- 
kara ;  there  are  many  of  these,  and  of  various  shapes  and 
sizes,  and  it  struck  me  that  taken  together  they  might  be  con- 
sidered as  showing  the  progress  and  perfection  (such  as  it  is) 
of  Pyramidical  Architecture.  One  of  the  Pyramids  at  Sak- 
kara  is  almost  a  rival  for  the  full-grown  monster  of  Ghizeh  ; 
others  are  scarcely  more  than  vast  heaps  of  brick  and  stone ; 
these  last  suggested  to  me  the  idea  that  after  all  the  Pyramid 
is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  variety  of  the  sepulchral 
mound  so  common  in  most  countries  (including,  I  believe, 
Hindostan,  from  whence  the  Egyptians  are  supposed  to  have 
come).  Men  accustomed  to  raise  these  structures  for  their 
dead  Kings,  or  conquerors,  would  carry  the  usage  with  them 
in  their  migrations  ;  but  arriving  in  Egypt,  and  seeing  the  im- 
possibility of  finding  earth  sufficiently  tenacious  for  a  mound, 
they  would  approximate  as  nearly  as  might  be  to  their  an- 
cient custom  by  raising  up  a  round  heap  of  these  stones, — 
in  short,  conical  pyramids ;  of  these  there  are  several  at 
Sakkara,  and  the  materials  of  some  are  thrown  together  with- 
out any  order  or  regularity.  The  transition  from  this  simple 
form,  to  that  of  the  square  angular  pyramid,  was  easy  and 
natural,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  gradations  through 
which  the  style  passed  from  infancy  up  to  its  mature  enor- 
mity could  plainly  be  traced  at  Sakkara. 


CHAPTER   XX 

The  Sphinx 

AND  near  the  Pyramids,  more  wondrous,  and  more  awful 
than  all  else  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  there  sits  the  lonely 
Sphinx.  Comely  the  creature  is,  but  the  comeliness  is 
not  of  this  world ;  the  once  worshiped  beast  is  a  deformity 
and  a  monster  to  this  generation,  and  yet  you  can  see  that 
those  lips,  so  thick  and  heavy,  were  fashioned  according  to 
some  ancient  mold  of  beauty  —  some  mold  of  beauty  now 
forgotten — forgotten  because  that  Greece  drew  forth  Cytherea 
from  the  flashing  foam  of  the  ^gean,  and  in  her  image  created 
new  forms  of  beauty,  and  made  it  a  law  among  men  that  the 
short  and  proudly  wreathed  lip  should  stand  for  the  sign  and 
the  main  condition  of  loveliness,  through  all  generations  to 
come.  Yet  still  there  lives  on  the  race  of  those  who  were 
beautiful  in  the  fashion  of  the  elder  world,  and  Christian  girls 
of  Coptic  blood  will  look  on  you  with  the  sad,  serious  gaze, 
and  kiss  you  your  charitable  hand  with  the  big,  pouting  lips 
of  the  very  Sphinx. 

Laugh,  and  mock  if  you  will  at  the  worship  of  stone  idols, 
but  mark  ye  this,  ye  breakers  of  images,  that  in  one  regard 
the  stone  idol  bears  awful  semblance  of  Deity  —  unchange- 
f ulness  in  the  midst  of  change  —  the  same  seeming  will  and 
intent  forever  and  ever  inexorable !  Upon  ancient  dynasties 
of  Ethiopian  and  Egyptian  Kings  —  upon  Greek  and  Roman, 
upon  Arab  and  Ottoman  conquerors — upon  Napoleon  dream- 
ing of  an  Eastern  Empire  —  upon  battle  and  pestilence  —  upon 
the  ceaseless  misery  of  the  Egyptian  race — upon  keen-eyed 
travelers  —  Herodotus  yesterday,  and  Warburton^  to-day  — 

^  Eliot  Warburton,  who  is  known  to  be  the  author  of  those  brilliantly 
sparkling  papers,  the  "  Episodes  of  Eastern  Travel,"  which  lit  up  our  last 
November.  His  book  ("  The  Crescent  and  the  Cross  ")  must  and  will  be 
capital. 

176 


EOTHEN  177 

upon  all  and  more  this  unworldly  Sphinx  has  watched,  and 
watched  like  a  Providence  with  the  same  earnest  eyes,  and  the 
same  sad,  tranquil  mien.  And  we,  we  shall  die,  and  Islam 
will  wither  away,  and  the  Englishman,  leaning  far  over  to 
hold  his  loved  India,  will  plant  a  firm  foot  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nile,  and  sit  in  the  seats  of  the  Faithful,  and  still  that  sleep- 
less rock  will  lie  watching  and  watching  the  works  of  the  new, 
busy  race,  with  those  same  sad,  earnest  eyes,  and  the  same 
tranquil  mien  everlasting.     You  dare  not  mock  at  the  Sphinx. 


27 


CHAPTER  XXI 

Cairo  to  Suez 

THE  "dromedary"  of  Egypt  and  Syria  is  not  the  two- 
humped  animal  described  by  that  name  in  books  of 
natural  history,  but  is  in  fact  of  the  same  family  as  the 
camel,  to  which  it  stands  in  about  the  same  relation  as  a  racer 
to  a  cart-horse.  The  fleetness  and  endurance  of  this  creature 
are  extraordinary.  It  is  not  usual  to  force  him  into  a  gallop, 
and  I  fancy  from  his  make  that  it  would  be  quite  impossible 
for  him  to  maintain  that  pace  for  any  length  of  time ;  but  the 
animal  is  on  so  large  a  scale  that  the  jog-trot  at  which  he  is 
generally  ridden  implies  a  progress  of  perhaps  ten  or  twelve 
miles  an  hour,  and  this  pace,  it  is  said,  he  can  keep  up  inces- 
santly without  food,  or  water,  or  rest,  for  three  whole  days  and 
nights. 

Of  the  two  dromedaries  which  I  had  obtained  for  this 
journey,  I  mounted  one  myself,  and  put  Dthemetri  on  the 
other.  My  plan  was,  to  ride  on  with  Dthemetri  to  Suez  as 
rapidly  as  the  fleetness  of  the  beasts  would  allow,  and  to  let 
Mysseri  (who  was  still  weak  from  the  effects  of  his  late  ill- 
ness) come  quietly  on  with  the  camels  and  baggage. 

The  trot  of  the  dromedary  is  a  pace  terribly  disagreeable 
to  the  rider,  until  he  becomes  a  little  accustomed  to  it ;  but 
after  the  first  half  hour  I  so  far  schooled  myself  to  this  new 
exercise,  that  I  felt  capable  of  keeping  it  up  (though  not  with- 
out aching  limbs)  for  several  hours  together.  Now,  therefore, 
I  was  anxious  to  dart  forward,  and  annihilate  at  once  the 
whole  space  that  divided  me  from  the  Red  Sea.  Dthemetri, 
however,  could  not  get  on  at  all ;  every  attempt  which  he 
made  to  trot  seemed  to  threaten  the  utter  dislocation  of  his 
whole  frame,  and  indeed  I  doubt  whether  any  one  of  Dthe- 
metri's  age  (nearly  forty,  I  think)  and  unaccustomed  to  such 
exercise  could  have  borne  it  at  all  easily ;  besides,  the  drome- 


EOTHEN  179 

dary  which  fell  to  his  lot  was  evidently  a  very  bad  one ;  he 
every  now  and  then  came  to  a  dead  stop,  and  coolly  knelt 
down,  as  though  suggesting  that  the  rider  had  better  get  off 
at  once,  and  abandon  the  attempt  as  one  that  was  utterly 
hopeless. 

When  for  the  third  or  fourth  time  I  saw  Dthemetri  thus 
planted,  I  lost  my  patience,  and  went  on  without  him.  For 
about  two  hours,  I  think,  I  advanced  without  once  looking 
behind  me.  I  then  paused,  and  cast  my  eyes  back  to  the 
western  horizon.  There  was  no  sign  of  Dthemetri,  nor  of  any 
other  living  creature.  This  I  expected,  for  I  knew  that  I  must 
have  far  outdistanced  all  my  followers.  I  had  ridden  away 
from  my  party  merely  by  way  of  gratifying  my  impatience, 
and  with  the  intention  of  stopping,  as  soon  as  I  felt  tired,  until 
I  was  overtaken.  I  now  observed,  however  (which  I  had  not 
been  able  to  do  whilst  advancing  so  rapidly),  that  the  track 
which  I  had  been  following  was  seemingly  the  track  of  only 
one  or  two  camels.  I  did  not  fear  that  I  had  diverged  very 
largely  from  the  true  route,  but  still  I  could  not  feel  any 
reasonable  certainty  that  my  party  would  follow  any  line  of 
march  within  sight  of  me. 

I  had  to  consider,  therefore,  whether  I  should  remain  where 
I  was,  upon  the  chance  of  seeing  my  people  come  up,  or 
whether  I  would  push  on  alone,  and  find  my  way  to  Suez.  I 
had  now  learned  that  I  could  not  rely  upon  the  continued 
guidance  of  any  track,  but  I  knew  that  (if  maps  were  right) 
the  point  for  which  I  was  bound  bore  just  due  east  of  Cairo, 
and  I  thought  that,  although  I  might  miss  the  line  leading 
most  directly  to  Suez,  I  could  not  well  fail  to  find  my  way 
sooner  or  later  to  the  Red  Sea.  The  worst  of  it  was  that  I 
had  no  provision  of  food  or  water  with  me,  and  already  I  was 
beginning  to  feel  thirst.  I  deliberated  for  a  minute,  and  then 
determined  that  I  would  abandon  all  hope  of  seeing  my  party 
again  in  the  desert,  and  would  push  forward  as  rapidly  as 
possible  toward  Suez. 

It  was  not,  I  confess,  without  a  sensation  of  awe  that  I 
swept  with  my  sight  the  vacant  round  of  the  horizon,  and  re- 
membered that  I  was  all  alone  and  unprovisioned  in  the  midst 
of  the  arid  waste ;  but  this  very  awe  gave  tone  and  zest  to  the 
exultation  with  which  I  felt  myself  launched.     Hitherto,  in  all 


l8o  KINGLAKE 

my  wanderings,  I  had  been  under  the  care  of  other  people  — 
sailors,  Tatars,  guides,  and  Dragomen  had  watched  over  my 
welfare  ;  but  now  at  last  I  was  here  in  this  African  desert,  and 
I  myself,  and  no  other,  had  charge  of  my  life ;  I  liked  the 
office  well ;  I  had  the  greatest  part  of  the  day  before  me,  a 
very  fair  dromedary,  a  fur  pelisse,  and  a  brace  of  pistols,  but 
no  bread,  and  no  water ;  for  that  I  must  ride,  —  and  ride  I  did. 

For  several  hours  I  urged  forward  my  beast  at  a  rapid 
though  steady  pace,  but  now  the  pangs  of  thirst  began  to 
torment  me.  I  did  not  relax  my  pace,  however,  and  I  had 
not  suffered  long,  when  a  moving  object  appeared  in  the  dis- 
tance before  me.  The  intervening  space  was  soon  traversed, 
and  I  found  myself  approaching  a  Bedouin  Arab  mounted  on 
a  camel,  attended  by  another  Bedouin  on  foot.  They  stopped. 
I  saw  that,  as  usual,  there  hung  from  the  pack-saddle  of  the 
camel  a  large  skin  water  flask  which  seemed  to  be  well  filled ; 
I  steered  my  dromedary  close  up  alongside  of  the  mounted 
Bedouin,  caused  my  beast  to  kneel  down,  then  alighted,  and 
keeping  the  end  of  the  halter  in  my  hand,  went  up  to  the 
mounted  Bedouin  without  speaking,  took  hold  of  his  water 
flask,  opened  it,  and  drank  long  and  deep  from  its  leathern 
lips.  Both  of  the  Bedouins  stood  fast  in  amazement  and 
mute  horror,  and  really  if  they  had  never  happened  to  see 
a  European  before,  the  apparition  was  enough  to  startle 
them.  To  see  for  the  first  time  a  coat  and  a  waistcoat  with 
the  pale  semblance  of  a  human  head  at  the  top,  and  for  this 
ghastly  figure  to  come  swiftly  out  of  the  horizon,  upon  a  fleet 
dromedary  —  approach  them  silently,  and  with  a  demoniacal 
smile,  and  drink  a  deep  draft  from  their  water  flask  —  this 
was  enough  to  make  the  Bedouins  stare  a  little  :  they,  in  fact, 
stared  a  great  deal  —  not  as  Europeans  stare,  with  a  restless 
and  puzzled  expression  of  countenance,  but  with  features  all 
fixed,  and  rigid,  and  with  still,  glassy  eyes ;  before  they  had 
time  to  get  decomposed  from  their  state  of  petrifaction,  I  had 
remounted  my  dromedary,  and  was  darting  away  toward  the 
east. 

Without  pause,  or  remission  of  pace,  I  continued  to  press 
forward,  but  after  a  while  I  found  to  my  confusion,  that  the 
slight  track,  which  had  hitherto  guided  me,  now  failed  alto- 
gether ;  I  began  to  fear  that  I  must  have  been  all  along  f ol- 


EOTHEN  l8l 

lowing  the  course  of  some  wandering  Bedouins,  and  I  felt 
that  if  this  were  the  case,  my  fate  was  a  little  uncertain.  To 
comfort  myself,  I  began  to  nurse  up  a  theory  that  death  by 
thirst  was  not  so  terrible  as  inexperienced  people  were  apt  to 
imagine.  (Say  what  you  will,  there  is  comfort  in  theories ; 
some  of  the  repudiating  Americans  of  the  United  States 
entertain  a  theory  that  they  are  distinguishable  from  com- 
mon swindlers,  and  the  national  pride  of  the  "  young  Repub- 
lic "  is  wholly  supported  by  the  indulgence  of  this  singular 
fancy.) 

I  had  no  compass  with  me,  but  I  determined  upon  the 
eastern  point  of  the  horizon  as  accurately  as  I  could,  by  refer- 
ence to  the  sun,  and  so  laid  down  for  myself  a  way  over  the 
pathless  sands. 

But  now  my  poor  dromedary,  by  whose  life  and  strength 
I  held  my  own,  began  to  show  signs  of  distress ;  a  thick, 
clammy,  and  glutinous  kind  of  foam  gathered  about  her  lips, 
and  piteous  sobs  burst  from  her  bosom  in  the  tones  of  human 
misery ;  I  doubted  for  a  moment  whether  I  would  give  her  a 
little  rest,  or  relaxation  of  pace,  but  I  decided  that  I  would 
not,  and  continued  to  push  forward  as  steadily  as  before. 

The  character  of  the  country  became  changed ;  I  had  rid- 
den away  from  the  level  tracts,  and  before  me  now,  and  on 
either  side,  there  were  vast  hills  of  sand,  and  calcined  rocks 
that  interrupted  my  progress,  and  baffled  my  doubtful  road, 
but  I  did  my  best ;  with  rapid  steps  I  swept  round  the  base 
of  the  hills,  threaded  the  winding  hollows,  and  at  last,  as  I 
rose  in  my  swift  course  to  the  crest  of  a  lofty  ridge,  Thalatta! 
Thalatta !  by  Jove  !  I  saw  the  Sea ! 

My  tongue  can  tell  where  to  find  the  clue  to  many  an  old 
pagan  creed,  because  that  (distinctly  from  all  mere  admira- 
tion of  the  beauty  belonging  to  Nature's  works)  I  acknowledge 
a  sense  of  mystical  reverence,  when  first  I  look  to  see  some 
illustrious  feature  of  the  globe  —  some  coast-line  of  Ocean  — 
some  mighty  river  or  dreary  mountain  range,  the  ancient  bar- 
rier of  kingdoms.  But  the  Red  Sea !  It  might  well  claim 
my  earnest  gaze  by  force  of  the  great  Jewish  migration  which 
connects  it  with  the  history  of  our  own  Religion.  From  this 
very  ridge,  it  is  likely  enough,  the  panting  Israelites  first  saw 
that  shining  inlet  of  the  sea.     Aye  !  aye  !  but  moreover,  and 


1 82  KINGLAKE 

best  of  all,  that  beckoning  Sea  assured  my  eyes,  and  proved 
how  well  I  had  marked  out  the  east  for  my  path,  and  gave 
me  good  promise  that  sooner  or  later  the  time  would  come 
for  me  to  rest  and  drink.  It  was  distant,  the  Sea,  but  I  felt 
my  own  strength,  and  I  had  heard  of  the  strength  of  drome- 
daries. I  pushed  forward  as  eagerly  as  though  I  had  spoiled 
the  Egyptians,  and  were  flying  from  Pharaoh's  police. 

I  had  not  yet  been  able  to  discover  any  symptoms  of  Suez, 
but  after  a  while  I  descried  in  the  distance  a  large,  blank,  iso- 
lated building ;  I  made  toward  this,  and  in  time  got  down  to 
it.  The  building  was  a  fort,  and  had  been  built  there  for  the 
protection  of  a  well  which  it  contained  within  its  precincts. 
A  cluster  of  small  huts  adhered  to  the  fort,  and  in  a  short 
time  I  was  receiving  the  hospitality  of  the  inhabitants,  who 
were  grouped  upon  the  sands  near  their  hamlet.  To  quench 
the  fires  of  my  throat  with  about  a  gallon  of  muddy  water, 
and  to  swallow  a  little  of  the  food  placed  before  me,  was  the 
work  of  few  minutes,  and  before  the  astonishment  of  my 
hosts  had  even  begun  to  subside,  I  was  pursuing  my  onward 
journey.  Suez,  I  found,  was  still  three  hours  distant,  and  the 
sun  going  down  in  the  west  warned  me  that  I  must  find  some 
other  guide  to  keep  me  in  the  right  direction.  This  guide  I 
found  in  the  most  fickle  and  uncertain  of  the  elements.  For 
some  hours  the  wind  had  been  freshening,  and  it  now  blew 
a  violent  gale ;  it  blew  not  fitfully,  and  in  squalls,  but  with 
such  remarkable  steadiness  that  I  felt  convinced  it  would 
come  from  the  same  quarter  for  several  hours.  When  the 
sun  set,  therefore,  I  carefully  looked  for  the  point  from  which 
the  wind  was  blowing,  and  found  that  it  came  from  the  very 
west,  and  was  blowing  exactly  in  the  direction  of  my  route. 
I  had  nothing  to  do  therefore  but  to  go  straight  to  leeward, 
and  this  was  not  dijnficult,  for  the  gale  blew  with  such  immense 
force  that  if  I  diverged  at  all  from  its  line,  I  instantly  felt  the 
pressure  of  the  blast  on  the  side  toward  which  I  was  devia- 
ting. Very  soon  after  sunset  there  came  on  complete  dark- 
ness, but  the  strong  wind  guided  me  well,  and  sped  me,  too, 
on  my  way. 

I  had  pushed  on  for  about,  I  think,  a  couple  of  hours  after 
nightfall  when  I  saw  the  glimmer  of  a  light  in  the  distance, 
and  this  I  ventured  to  hope  must  be  Suez.     Upon  approach- 


EOTHEN  183 

ing  it,  however,  I  found  that  it  was  only  a  solitary  fort,  and 
I  passed  on  without  stopping. 

On  I  went,  still  riding  down  the  wind,  when  an  unlucky 
accident  occurred,  for  which,  if  you  like,  you  can  have  your 
laugh  against  me.  I  have  told  you  already  what  sort  of  lodg- 
ing it  is  which  you  have  upon  the  back  of  a  camel.  You  ride 
the  dromedary  in  the  same  fashion :  you  are  perched  rather 
than  seated  upon  a  bunch  of  carpets  or  quilts  upon  the  sum- 
mit of  the  hump.  It  happened  that  my  dromedary  veered 
rather  suddenly  from  her  onward  course ;  meeting  the  move- 
ment, I  mechanically  turned  my  left  wrist  as  though  I  were 
holding  a  bridle-rein,  for  the  complete  darkness  prevented 
my  eyes  from  reminding  me  that  I  had  nothing  but  a  halter 
in  my  hand;  the  expected  resistance  failed,  for  the  halter 
was  hanging  upon  that  side  of  the  dromedary's  neck  toward 
which  I  was  slightly  leaning;  I  toppled  over,  head  foremost, 
and  then  went  falling  and  falling  through  air  till  my  crown 
came  whang  against  the  ground.  And  the  ground,  too,  was 
perfectly  hard  (compacted  sand),  but  the  thickly  wadded 
head-gear  which  I  wore  for  protection  against  the  sun  saved 
my  life.  The  notion  of  my  being  able  to  get  up  again  after 
falling  head  foremost  from  such  an  immense  height  seemed 
to  me  at  first  too  paradoxical  to  be  acted  upon,  but  I  soon 
found  that  I  was  not  a  bit  hurt.  My  dromedary  utterly  van- 
ished ;  I  looked  round  me  and  saw  the  glimmer  of  a  light  in 
the  fort  which  I  had  lately  passed,  and  I  began  to  work  my 
way  back  in  that  direction.  The  violence  of  the  gale  made 
it  hard  for  me  to  force  my  way  toward  the  west,  but  I  suc- 
ceeded at  last  in  regaining  the  fort.  To  this,  as  to  the  other 
fort  which  I  had  passed,  there  was  attached  a  cluster  of  huts, 
and  I  soon  found  myself  surrounded  by  a  group  of  villainous, 
gloomy-looking  fellows.  It  was  a  horrid  bore  for  me  to  have 
to  swagger  and  look  big  at  a  time  when  I  felt  so  particularly 
small  on  account  of  my  tumble  and  my  lost  dromedary,  but 
there  was  no  help  for  it ;  I  had  no  Dthemetri  now  to  "  strike 
terror  "  for  me,  I  knew  hardly  one  word  of  Arabic,  but  some- 
how or  other  I  contrived  to  announce  it  as  my  absolute  will  and 
pleasure  that  these  fellows  should  find  me  the  means  of  gaining 
Suez.  They  acceded,  and  having  a  donkey,  they  saddled  it  for 
me,  and  appointed  one  of  their  number  to  attend  me  on  foot. 


l84  KINGLAKE 

I  afterward  found  that  these  fellows  were  not  Arabs,  but 
Algerine  refugees,  and  that  they  bore  the  character  of  being 
sad  scoundrels.  They  justified  this  imputation  to  some  ex- 
tent on  the  following  day.  They  allowed  Mysseri  with  my 
baggage,  and  the  camels,  to  pass  unmolested,  but  an  Arab 
lad  belonging  to  the  party  happened  to  lag  a  little  way  in  the 
rear,  and  him  (if  they  were  not  maligned)  these  rascals 
stripped  and  robbed.  Low,  indeed,  is  the  state  of  bandit 
morality,  when  men  will  allow  the  sleek  traveler  with  well- 
laden  camels  to  pass  in  quiet,  reserving  their  spirit  of  enter- 
prise for  the  tattered  turban  of  a  miserable  boy. 

I  reached  Suez  at  last.  The  British  Agent,  though  roused 
from  his  midnight  sleep,  received  me  in  his  home  with  the 
utmost  kindness  and  hospitality.  Oh  !  by  Jove,  how  delight- 
ful it  was  to  lie  on  fair  sheets,  and  to  dally  with  sleep,  and  to 
wake,  and  to  sleep,  and  to  wake  once  more,  for  the  sake  of 
sleeping  again ! 


CHAPTER   XXII 
Suez 

1WAS  hospitably  entertained  by  the  British  Consul,  or 
Agent,  as  he  is  there  styled;  he  is  the  employee  of  the 
East  India  Company,  and  not  of  the  Home  Government. 
Napoleon,  during  his  stay  of  five  days  at  Suez,  had  been  the 
guest  of  the  Consul's  father,  and  I  was  told  that  the  divan  in 
my  apartment  had  been  the  bed  of  the  great  Commander. 

There  are  two  opinions  as  to  the  point  at  which  the  Israel- 
ites passed  the  Red  Sea :  one  is  that  they  traversed  only  the 
very  small  creek  at  the  Northern  extremity  of  the  inlet,  and 
that  they  entered  the  bed  of  the  water  at  the  spot  on 
which_  Suez  now  stands ;  the  other  that  they  crossed  the  sea 
irom  a  point  eighteen  miles  down  the  coast.  The  Oxford 
theologians  who,  with  Milman,  their  Professor,^  believed  that 
Jehovah  conducted  his  chosen  people  without  disturbing  the 
order  of  Nature,  adopt  the  first  view,  and  suppose  that 
the  Israelites  passed  during  an  ebb  tide  aided  by  a  violent 
wind.  One  among  many  objections  to  this  supposition  is, 
that  the  time  of  a  single  ebb  would  not  have  been  sufficient 
for  the  passage  of  that  vast  multitude  of  men  and  beasts,  or 
even  for  a  small  fraction  of  it.  Moreover,  the  creek  to  the 
north  of  this  point  can  be  compassed  in  an  hour,  and  in  two 
hours  you  can  make  the  circuit  of  the  salt  marsh  over  which 
the  sea  may  have  extended  in  former  times  ;  if,  therefore,  the 
Israelites  crossed  so  high  up  as  Suez,  the  Egyptians,  unless 
infatuated  by  divine  interference,  might  easily  have  recovered 
their  stolen  goods  from  the  encumbered  fugitives,  by  making 
a  slight  detour.  The  opinion  which  fixes  the  point  of  pas- 
sage at  eighteen  miles  distance,  and  from  thence  right  across 
the  Ocean  depths  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  sea,  is  supported 
by  the  unanimous  tradition  of  the  people,  whether  Christians 

^  See  Milman's  "  Historj'  of  the  Jews."     ist  Edition,  Family  Library. 

i8s 


1 86  KINGLAKE 

or  Mussulmans,  and  is  consistent  with  Holy  Writ ;  "  the 
waters  were  a  wall  unto  them  on  their  right  hand,  and  on 
their  left."  The  Cambridge  Mathematicians  seem  to  think 
that  the  Israelites  were  enabled  to  pass  over  dry  land  by 
adopting  a  route  not  usually  subject  to  the  influx  of  the  Sea; 
this  notion  is  plausible  in  a  merely  hydrostatical  point  of  view, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  been  adopted  by  most  of  the  fellows 
of  Trinity,  but  certainly  not  by  Thorp,  who  is  one  of  the 
most  amiable  of  their  number  ;  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  this 
theory  with  the  account  given  in  Exodus,  unless  we  can  sup- 
pose that  the  words  "  sea  "  and  "  waters  "  are  there  used  in  a 
sense  implying  dry  land. 

Napoleon,  when  at  Suez,  made  an  attempt  to  follow  the 
supposed  steps  of  Moses  by  passing  the  creek  at  this  point ; 
but  it  seems,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  people  at 
Suez,  that  he  and  his  horsemen  managed  the  matter  in  a 
way  more  resembling  the  failure  of  the  Egyptians,  than  the 
success  of  the  Israelites.  According  to  the  French  account, 
Napoleon  got  out  of  the  difficulty  by  that  warrior-like  presence 
of  mind  which  served  him  so  well  when  the  fate  of  nations 
depended  on  the  decision  of  a  moment :  he  ordered  his  horse- 
men to  disperse  in  all  directions,  in  order  to  multiply  the 
chances  of  finding  shallow  water,  and  was  thus  enabled  to 
discover  a  line  by  which  he  and  his  people  were  extricated. 
The  story  told  by  the  people  of  Suez  is  very  different :  they 
declare  that  Napoleon  parted  from  his  horse,  got  thoroughly 
submerged,  and  was  only  fished  out  by  the  assistance  of  the 
people  on  shore. 

I  bathed  twice  at  the  point  assigned  to  the  passage  of  the 
Israelites,  and  the  second  time  that  I  did  so  I  chose  the  time 
of  low  water,  and  tried  to  walk  across  but  I  soon  found  my- 
self out  of  my  depth,  or  at  least  in  water  so  deep  that  I  could 
only  advance  by  swimming. 

The  dromedary  which  had  bolted  in  the  desert  was  brought 
into  Suez  the  day  after  my  arrival,  but  my  pelisse  and  my 
pistols,  which  had  been  attached  to  the  saddle,  had  disap- 
peared ;  these  articles  were  treasures  of  great  importance  to 
me  at  that  time,  and  I  moved  the  Governor  of  the  town  to 
make  all  possible  exertions  for  their  recovery ;  he  acceded 
to    my    wishes    as    well    as    he    could,  and  very  obligingly 


EOTHEN  187 

imprisoned  the  first  seven  poor  fellows  he  could  lay  his 
hands  on. 

At  first  the  Governor  acted  in  the  matter  from  no  other 
motive  than  that  of  courtesy  to  an  English  traveler,  but 
afterward,  and  when  he  saw  the  value  which  I  set  upon  the 
lost  property,  he  pushed  his  measures  with  a  degree  of  alac- 
rity and  heat  which  seemed  to  show  that  he  felt  a  personal 
interest  in  the  matter  ;  it  was  supposed  either  that  he  expected 
a  large  present  in  the  event  of  succeeding,  or  that  he  was 
striving  by  all  means  to  trace  the  property  in  order  that 
he  might  lay  his  hands  on  it  after  my  departure. 

I  went  out  sailing  for  some  hours,  and  when  I  returned  I 
was  horrified  to  find  that  two  men  had  been  bastinadoed  by 
order  of  the  Governor,  with  a  view  to  force  them  to  a  confes- 
sion of  their  theft.  It  appeared,  however,  that  there  really 
was  good  ground  for  supposing  them  guilty,  since  one  of  the 
holsters  was  actually  found  in  their  possession.  It  was  said, 
too  (but  I  could  hardly  believe  it),  that  whilst  one  of  the  men 
was  undergoing  the  bastinado,  his  comrade  was  overheard 
encouraging  him  to  bear  the  torment  without  peaching. 
Both  men,  if  they  had  the  secret,  were  resolute  in  keeping  it, 
and  were  sent  back  to  their  dungeon.  I,  of  course,  took  care 
that  there  should  be  no  repetition  of  the  torture,  at  least  as 
long  as  I  remained  at  Suez. 

The  Governor  was  a  thorough  Oriental,  and  until  a  com- 
paratively recent  period  had  shared  in  the  old  Mohammedan 
feeling  of  contempt  for  Europeans.  It  happened,  however, 
one  day  that  an  English  gun-brig  had  appeared  off  Suez,  and 
sent  her  boats  ashore  to  take  in  fresh  water.  Now  fresh 
water  at  Suez  is  a  somewhat  scarce  and  precious  commodity ; 
it  is  kept  in  tanks,  the  chief  of  which  is  at  some  distance  from 
the  place.  Under  these  circumstances  the  request  for  fresh 
water  was  refused,  or  at  all  events  was  not  complied  with. 
The  Captain  of  the  brig  was  a  simple-minded  man,  with  a 
strongish  will,  and  he  at  once  declared  that  if  his  casks  were 
not  filled  in  three  hours,  he  would  destroy  the  whole  place. 
"A  great  people,  indeed  !  "  said  the  Governor  —  "  a  wonder- 
ful people,  the  English  !  "  He  instantly  caused  every  cask 
to  be  filled  to  the  brim  from  his  own  tank,  and  ever  after- 
ward entertained  for  the  English  a  degree  of  affection  and 


1 88  KINGLAKE     , 

respect  for  which  I  felt  infinitely  indebted  to  the  gallant 
Captain. 

The  day  after  the  abortive  attempt  to  extract  a  confession 
from  the  prisoners,  the  Governor,  the  Consul,  and  I  sat  in 
Council,  I  know  not  how  long,  with  a  view  of  prosecuting 
the  search  for  the  stolen  goods.  The  sitting,  considered  in 
the  light  of  a  criminal  investigation,  was  characteristic  of  the 
East.  The  proceedings  began  as  a  matter  of  course  by  the 
Prosecutor's  smoking  a  pipe,  and  drinking  coffee  with 
the  Governor,  who  was  Judge,  Jury,  and  Sheriff.  I  got  on 
very  well  with  him  (this  was  not  my  first  interview),  and  he 
gave  me  the  pipe  from  his  lips  in  testimony  of  his  friendship. 
I  recollect,  however,  that  my  prime  adviser,  thinking  me, 
I  suppose,  a  great  deal  too  shy  and  retiring  in  my  manner, 
entreated  me  to  put  up  my  boots,  and  to  soil  the  Governor's 
divan,  in  order  to  inspire  respect,  and  strike  terror.  I  thought 
it  would  be  as  well  for  me  to  retain  the  right  of  respecting 
myself,  and  that  it  was  not  quite  necessary  for  a  well-re- 
ceived guest  to  strike  any  terror  at  all. 

Our  deliberations  were  assisted  by  the  numerous  attendants 
who  lined  the  three  sides  of  the  room  not  occupied  by  the 
divan.  Any  one  of  these,  who  took  it  into  his  head  to  offer 
a  suggestion,  would  stand  forward,  and  humble  himself  be- 
fore the  Governor,  and  then  state  his  views,  which  were 
always  more  or  less  attended  to. 

After  a  great  deal  of  fruitless  planning,  the  Governor 
directed  that  the  prisoners  should  be  brought  in.  I  was 
shocked  when  they  entered,  for  I  was  not  prepared  to  see 
them  come  carried  into  the  room  upon  the  shoulders  of  others. 
It  had  not  occurred  to  me  that  their  battered  feet  would  be 
too  sore  to  bear  the  contact  of  the  floor.  They  persisted  in 
asserting  their  innocence.  The  Governor  wanted  to  recur  to 
the  torture,  but  that  I  prevented,  and  the  men  were  carried 
back  to  their  dungeon. 

A  scheme  was  now  suggested  by  one  of  the  attendants 
which  seemed  to  me  childishly  absurd,  but  it  was  neverthe- 
less tried.  The  plan  was  to  send  a  man  to  the  prisoners, 
who  was  to  make  them  believe  that  he  had  obtained  entrance 
into  their  dungeon  upon  some  other  pretense,  but  that  he 
had  in  reality  come  to  treat  with  them    for   the  purchase 


EOTHEN  189 

of  the  stolen  goods.  This  shallow  expedient  of  course 
failed. 

The  Governor  himself  had  not  nominally  the  power  of  life 
and  death  over  the  people  in  his  district,  but  he  could,  if  he 
chose,  send  them  to  Cairo,  and  have  them  hanged  there.  I 
proposed  therefore  that  the  prisoners  should  be  threatened 
with  this  fate.  The  answer  of  the  Governor  made  me  feel 
rather  ashamed  of  my  effeminate  suggestion ;  he  said  that  if 
I  wished  it,  he  would  willingly  threaten  them  with  death,  but 
he  also  said  that  if  he  threatened,  he  should  execute  the 
threat. 

Thinking  at  last  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  keeping 
the  prisoners  any  longer  in  confinement,  I  requested  that 
they  might  be  set  free.  To  this  the  Governor  acceded, 
though  only,  as  he  said,  out  of  favor  to  me,  for  he  had  a 
strong  impression  that  the  men  were  guilty,  I  went  down  to 
see  the  prisoners  let  out  with  my  own  eyes.  They  were  very 
grateful,  and  fell  down  to  the  earth,  kissing  my  boots.  I 
gave  them  a  present  to  console  them  for  their  wounds,  and 
they  seemed  to  be  highly  delighted. 

Although  the  matter  terminated  in  a  manner  so  satisfactory 
to  the  principal  sufferers,  there  were  symptoms  of  some  angry 
excitement  in  the  place ;  it  was  said  that  public  opinion  was 
much  shocked  at  the  fact  that  Mohammedans  had  been 
beaten  on  account  of  a  loss  sustained  by  a  Christian.  My 
journey  was  to  recommence  the  next  day,  and  it  was  hinted 
that  if  I  persevered  in  my  intention  of  proceeding,  the  people 
would  have  an  easy  and  profitable  opportunity  of  wreaking 
their  vengeance  on  me.  If  ever  they  formed  any  scheme  of 
the  kind,  they  at  all  events  refrained  from  any  attempt  to 
carry  it  into  effect. 

One  of  the  evenings  during  my  stay  at  Suez  was  enlivened 
by  a  triple  wedding.  There  was  a  long  and  slow  procession. 
Some  carried  torches,  and  others  were  thumping  drums  and 
firing  pistols.  The  bridegrooms  came  last,  all  walking 
abreast ;  my  only  reason  for  mentioning  the  ceremony  (which 
was  otherwise  uninteresting)  is  that  I  scarcely  ever  in  all  my 
life  saw  any  phenomena  so  ridiculous  as  the  meekness  and 
gravity  of  those  three  young  men  whilst  being  "  led  to  the 
altar." 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

Suez  to  Gaza 

THE  route  over  the  desert  from  Suez  to  Gaza  is  not 
frequented  by  merchants,  and  is  seldom  passed  by  a 
traveler.  This  part  of  the  country  is  less  uniformly 
barren  than  the  tracts  of  shifting  sand  which  lie  on  the  El 
Arish  route.  The  shrubs  on  which  the  camels  feed  are  more 
frequent,  and  there  are  many  spots  on  which  the  sand  is 
mingled  with  so  much  of  productive  soil  as  to  admit  the 
growth  of  corn.  The  Bedouins  are  driven  out  of  this  district 
during  the  summer  by  the  total  want  of  water;  but  before  the 
time  for  their  forced  departure  arrives,  they  succeed  in  rais- 
ing little  crops  of  barley  from  these  comparatively  fertile 
patches  of  ground ;  they  bury  the  fruit  of  their  labors,  leav- 
ing marks  by  which,  upon  their  return,  they  may  be  able  to 
recognize  the  spot.  The  warm  dry  sand  stands  them  for  a 
safe  granary.  The  country,  at  the  time  I  passed  it  (in  the 
month  of  April),  was  pretty  thickly  sprinkled  with  Bedouins 
expecting  their  harvest ;  several  times  my  tent  was  pitched 
alongside  of  their  encampments ;  I  have  told  you  already 
what  the  impressions  were  which  these  people  produced 
upon  my  mind. 

I  saw  several  creatures  of  the  antelope  kind  in  this  part  of 
the  desert,  and  one  day  my  Arabs  surprised  in  her  sleep  a 
young  gazelle  (for  so  I  call  her),  and  took  the  darling  pris- 
oner. I  carried  her  before  me  on  my  camel  for  the  rest  of 
the  day,  and  kept  her  in  my  tent  all  night ;  I  did  all  I  could 
to  coax  her,  but  the  trembling  beauty  refused  to  touch  food, 
and  would  not  be  comforted ;  whenever  she  had  a  seeming 
opportunity  of  escaping,  she  struggled  with  a  violence  so 
painfully  disproportioned  to  her  fine,  delicate  limbs,  that  I 
could  not  continue  the  cruel  attempt  to  make  her  my  own. 
In  the  morning,  therefore,  I  set  her  free,  anticipating  some 

190 


EOTHEN  191 

pleasure  from  seeing  the  joyous  bound  with  which,  as  I 
thought,  she  would  return  to  her  native  freedom.  She  had 
been  so  stupefied,  however,  by  the  exciting  events  of  the 
preceding  day  and  night,  and  was  so  puzzled  as  to  the  road 
she  should  take,  that  she  went  off  very  deliberately,  and  with 
an  uncertain  step.  She  went  away  quite  sound  in  limb,  but 
her  intellect  may  have  been  upset.  Never,  in  all  likelihood, 
had  she  seen  the  form  of  a  human  being  until  the  dreadful 
moment  when  she  woke  from  her  sleep,  and  found  herself  in 
the  gripe  of  an  Arab.  Then  her  pitching  and  tossing  journey 
on  the  back  of  a  camel,  and  lastly,  a  soiree  with  me  by 
candlelight !  I  should  have  been  glad  to  know,  if  I  could, 
that  her  heart  was  not  utterly  broken. 

My  Arabs  were  somewhat  excited  one  day  by  discovering 
the  fresh  print  of  a  foot  —  the  foot,  as  they  said,  of  a  lion, 
I  had  no  conception  that  the  Lord  of  the  forest  (better  known 
as  a  crest)  ever  stalked  away  from  his  jungles  to  make  in- 
glorious war  in  these  smooth  plains  against  antelopes  and 
gazelles.  I  supposed  that  there  must  have  been  some  error 
of  interpretation,  and  that  the  Arabs  meant  to  speak  of  a 
tiger.  It  appeared,  however,  that  this  was  not  the  case ; 
either  the  Arabs  were  mistaken,  or  the  noble  brute,  uncooped 
and  unchained,  had  but  lately  crossed  my  path. 

The  camels  with  which  I  traversed  this  part  of  the  desert 
were  very  different  in  their  ways  and  habits  from  those 
which  you  get  on  a  frequented  route.  They  were  never  led. 
There  was  not  the  slightest  sign  of  a  track  in  this  part  of  the 
desert,  but  the  camels  never  failed  to  choose  the  right  line. 
By  the  direction  taken  at  starting,  they  knew,  I  suppose,  the 
point  (some  encampment)  for  which  they  were  to  make. 
There  is  always  a  leading  camel  (generally,  I  believe,  the 
eldest)  who  marches  foremost  and  determines  the  path  for 
the  whole  party.  If  it  happens  that  no  one  of  the  camels 
has  been  accustomed  to  lead  the  others,  there  is  very  great 
difficulty  in  making  a  start ;  if  you  force  your  beast  forward 
for  a  moment,  he  will  contrive  to  wheel  and  draw  back,  at  the 
same  time  looking  at  one  of  the  other  camels  with  an  ex- 
pression and  gesture  exactly  equivalent  to  "  apr^s  vous." 
The  responsibility  of  finding  the  way  is  evidently  assumed 
very  unwillingly.     After  some  time,  however,  it  becomes  un- 


192  KINGLAKE 

derstood  that  one  of  the  beasts  has  reluctantly  consented  to 
take  the  lead,  and  he  accordingly  advances  for  that  purpose. 
For  a  minute  or  two  he  goes  on  with  much  indecision,  taking 
first  one  line  and  then  another,  but  soon,  by  the  aid  of  some 
mysterious  sense,  he  discovers  the  true  direction  and  follows 
it  steadily  from  morning  to  night.  When  once  the  leader- 
ship is  established,  you  cannot  by  any  persuasion,  and  can 
scarcely  by  any  force,  induce  a  junior  camel  to  walk  one 
single  step  in  advance  of  the  chosen  guide. 

On  the  fifth  day  I  came  to  an  Oasis,  called  the  Wady  el 
Arish,  a  ravine,  or  rather  a  gully,  through  which  during  a 
part  of  the  year  there  runs  a  stream  of  water.  On  the  sides 
of  the  gully  there  were  a  number  of  those  graceful  trees  which 
the  Arabs  call  Tarfa.  The  channel  of  the  stream  was  quite 
dry  in  the  part  at  which  we  arrived,  but  at  about  half  a  mile 
off  some  water  was  found,  which,  though  very  muddy,  was 
tolerably  sweet.  This  was  a  happy  discovery,  for  the  water 
which  we  had  brought  from  the  neighborhood  of  Suez  was 
rapidly  putrefying. 

The  want  of  foresight  is  an  anomalous  part  of  the  Bedouin's 
character,  for  it  does  not  result  either  from  recklessness  or 
stupidity.  I  know  of  no  human  being  whose  body  is  so  thor- 
oughly the  slave  of  mind  as  that  of  the  Arab.  His  mental 
anxieties  seem  to  be  forever  torturing  every  nerve  and  fiber 
of  his  body,  and  yet  with  all  this  exquisite  sensitiveness  to 
the  suggestions  of  the  mind,  he  is  grossly  improvident.  I 
recollect,  for  instance,  that  when  setting  out  upon  this  pas- 
sage of  the  desert,  my  Arabs,  in  order  to  lighten  the  burden 
of  their  camels,  were  most  anxious  that  we  should  take  with 
us  only  two  days'  supply  of  water.  They  said  that  by  the 
time  that  supply  was  exhausted,  we  should  arrive  at  a 
spring  which  would  furnish  us  for  the  rest  of  the  journey. 
My  servants  very  wisely,  and  with  much  pertinacity,  resisted 
the  adoption  of  this  plan,  and  took  care  to  have  both  the 
large  skins  well  filled.  We  proceeded,  and  found  no  water  at 
all,  either  at  the  expected  spring,  or  for  many  days  after- 
ward, so  that  nothing  but  the  precaution  of  my  own  people 
saved  us  from  the  very  severe  suffering  which  we  should 
have  endured  if  we  had  entered  upon  the  desert  with  only  a 
two  days'   supply.      The  Arabs  themselves   being  on  foot 


EOTHEN 


193 


would  have  suffered  much  more  than  I  from  the  consequences 
of  their  improvidence. 

This  unaccountable  want  of  foresight  prevents  the  Bedouin 
from  appreciating  at  a  distance  of  eight  or  ten  days  the 
amount  of  the  misery  which  he  entails  upon  himself  at  the 
end  of  that  period.  The  Bedouin's  dread  of  the  city  is  one 
of  the  most  painful  mental  affections  that  I  have  ever 
observed,  and  yet  when  the  whole  breadth  of  the  desert  lies 
between  him  and  the  town  to  which  you  are  going,  he  will 
freely  enter  into  an  agreement  to  land  you  in  the  city  for 
which  you  are  bound.  When,  however,  after  many  a  day  of 
toil,  the  distant  minarets  at  length  appear,  the  poor  Bedouin 
relaxes  the  vigor  of  his  pace,  —  his  step  becomes  faltering  and 
undecided,  —  every  moment  his  uneasiness  increases,  and  at 
length  he  fairly  sobs  aloud,  and  embracing  your  knees,  im- 
plores with  the  most  piteous  cries  and  gestures  that  you  will 
dispense  with  him  and  his  camels  and  find  some  other  means 
of  entering  the  city.  This,  of  course,  one  can't  agree  to,  and 
the  consequence  is  that  one  is  obliged  to  witness  and  resist 
the  most  moving  expressions  of  grief  and  fond  entreaty.  I 
had  to  go  through  a  most  painful  scene  of  this  kind  when  I 
entered  Cairo,  and  now  the  horror  which  these  wilder  Arabs 
felt  at  the  notion  of  entering  Gaza  led  to  consequences  still 
more  distressing.  The  dread  of  cities  results  partly  from  a 
kind  of  wild  instinct  which  has  always  characterized  the  de- 
scendants of  Ishmael,  but  partly,  too,  from  a  well-founded 
apprehension  of  ill  treatment.  So  often  it  happens  that  the 
poor  Bedouin,  when  once  jammed  in  between  walls,  is  seized 
by  the  Government  authorities  for  the  sake  of  his  camels, 
that  his  innate  horror  of  cities  becomes  really  well  justified 
by  results. 

The  Bedouins  with  whom  I  performed  this  journey  were 
wild  fellows  of  the  desert,  quite  unaccustomed  to  let  out 
themselves  and  their  beasts  for  hire,  and  when  they  found 
that  by  the  natural  ascendency  of  Europeans  they  were  gradu- 
ally brought  down  to  a  state  of  subserviency  to  me,  or  rather 
to  my  attendants,  they  bitterly  repented,  I  believe,  of  having 
placed  themselves  under  our  control.  They  were  rather  diffi- 
cult fellows  to  manage,  and  gave  Dthemetri  a  good  deal  of 
trouble,  but  I  liked  them  all  the  better  for  that. 
28 


194  KINGLAKE 

Selim,  the  chief  of  the  party  and  the  man  to  whom  all  our 
camels  belonged,  was  a  fine,  wild,  stately  fellow ;  there  were, 
I  think,  five  other  Arabs  of  the  party;  but  when  we  approached 
the  end  of  the  journey,  they,  one  by  one,  began  to  make  off 
toward  the  neighboring  encampments,  and  by  the  time  that 
the  minarets  of  Gaza  were  in  sight,  Selim,  the  owner  of  the 
camels,  was  the  only  one  who  remained ;  he,  poor  fellow,  as 
we  neared  the  Town,  began  to  discover  the  same  terrors  that 
my  Arabs  had  shown  when  I  entered  Cairo.  I  could  not 
possibly  accede  to  his  entreaties  and  consent  to  let  my  bag- 
gage be  laid  down  on  the  bare  sands,  without  any  means  of 
having  it  brought  on  into  the  city.  So,  at  length,  when  poor 
Selim  had  exhausted  all  his  rhetoric  of  voice  and  action  and 
tears,  he  fixed  his  despairing  eyes  for  a  minute  upon  the 
cherished  beasts  that  were  his  only  wealth,  and  then  wildly 
and  suddenly  dashed  away  into  the  farther  desert.  I  con- 
tinued my  course  and  reached  the  city  at  last,  but  it  was  not 
without  immense  difficulty  that  we  could  constrain  the  poor 
camels  to  pass  under  the  hated  shadow  of  its  walls.  They 
were  the  genuine  beasts  of  the  desert,  and  it  was  sad  and 
painful  to  witness  the  agony  which  they  suffered  when  thus 
they  were  forced  to  encounter  the  fixed  habitations  of  men ; 
they  shrank  from  the  beginning  of  every  high  narrow  street, 
as  though  from  the  entrance  of  some  horrible  cave  or  bottom- 
less pit ;  they  sighed  and  wept  like  women.  When  at  last 
we  got  them  within  the  courtyard  of  the  Khan,  they  seemed 
to  be  quite  broken-hearted,  and  looked  round  piteously  for 
their  loving  master,  but  no  Selim  came.  I  had  imagined  that 
he  would  enter  the  town  secretly  by  night  in  order  to  carry 
off  those  five  fine  camels,  his  only  wealth  in  this  world,  and 
seemingly  the  main  object  of  his  affection.  But  no  —  his 
dread  of  civilization  was  too  strong ;  during  the  whole  of  the 
three  days  that  I  remained  at  Gaza,  he  failed  to  show  him- 
self, and  thus  sacrificed,  in  all  probability,  not  only  his  camels 
but  the  money  which  I  had  stipulated  to  pay  him  for  the  pas- 
sage of  the  desert.  In  order,  however,  to  do  all  I  could 
toward  saving  him  from  this  last  misfortune,  I  resorted  to  a 
contrivance  which  is  frequently  adopted  by  the  Asiatics.  I 
assembled  a  group  of  grave  and  worthy  Mussulmans  in  the 
courtyard  of  the  Khan,  and  in  their  presence  paid  over  the 


EOTHEN  195 

gold  to  a  Sheik  who  was  accustomed  to  communicate  with 
the  Arabs  of  the  desert.  All  present  solemnly  promised 
that  if  ever  Selim  should  come  to  claim  his  rights,  they  would 
bear  true  witness  in  his  favor. 

I  saw  a  great  deal  of  my  old  friend,  the  Governor  of  Gaza. 
He  had  received  orders  to  send  back  all  persons  coming  from 
Egypt,  and  force  them  to  perform  quarantine  at  El  Arish ; 
he  knew  so  little  of  quarantine  regulations,  however,  that  his 
dress  was  actually  in  contact  with  mine,  whilst  he  insisted 
upon  the  stringency  of  the  orders  which  he  had  received. 
He  was  induced  to  make  an  exception  in  my  favor,  and  I 
rewarded  him  with  a  musical  snuff-box  which  I  had  bought 
at  Smyrna,  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  it  to  any  man  in 
authority  who  might  happen  to  do  me  an  important  service. 
The  Governor  was  immensely  delighted  with  this  toy,  and 
took  it  off  to  his  harem  with  great  exultation ;  he  soon,  how- 
ever, returned  with  an  altered  countenance  :  his  wives,  he 
said,  had  got  hold  of  the  box,  and  put  it  out  of  order.  So 
short-lived  is  human  happiness  in  this  frail  world ! 

The  Governor  fancied  that  he  should  incur  less  risk  if  I 
remained  at  Gaza  for  two  or  three  days  more,  and  he  wanted 
me  to  become  his  guest ;  I  persuaded  him,  however,  that  it 
would  be  better  for  him  to  let  me  depart  at  once ;  he  wanted 
to  add  to  my  baggage  a  roast  lamb,  and  a  quantity  of  other 
cumbrous  viands,  but  I  escaped  with  half  a  horse  load  of 
leaven  bread,  which  was  very  good  of  its  kind,  and  proved 
a  most  useful  present.  The  air  with  which  the  Governor's 
slaves  affected  to  be  almost  breaking  down  under  the  weight 
of  the  gifts  which  they  bore  on  their  shoulders,  reminded  me 
of  the  figures  one  sees  in  some  of  the  old  pictures. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

Gaza  to  Nablous 

ASSING  now  once  again  through  Palestine  and  Syria, 
I  retained  the  tent  which  I  had  used  in  the  desert,  and 
found  that  it  added  very  much  to  my  comfort  in  travel- 
ing. Instead  of  turning  out  a  family  from  some  wretched 
dwelling,  and  depriving  them  of  a  repose  which  I  was  sure 
not  to  find  for  myself,  I  now,  when  evening  came,  pitched 
my  tent  upon  some  smiling  spot  within  a  few  hundred  yards 
of  the  village  to  which  I  looked  for  my  supplies  —  that  is, 
for  milk  and  bread,  if  I  had  it  not  with  me,  and  sometimes 
also  for  eggs.  The  worst  of  it  is,  that  the  needful  viands 
are  not  to  be  obtained  by  coin,  but  only  by  intimidation.  I 
at  first  tried  the  usual  agent  —  money ;  Dthemetri,  with  one 
or  two  of  my  Arabs,  went  into  the  village  near  which  I  was 
encamped,  and  tried  to  buy  the  required  provisions,  offering 
liberal  payment,  but  he  came  back  empty-handed.  I  sent 
him  again,  but  this  time  he  held  different  language :  he 
required  to  see  the  eiders  of  the  place,  and  threatening 
dreadful  vengeance,  directed  them  upon  their  responsibility 
to  take  care  that  my  tent  should  be  immediately  and  abun- 
dantly supplied.  He  was  obeyed  at  once,  and  the  provisions 
which  had  been  refused  to  me  as  a  purchaser  soon  arrived, 
trebled,  or  quadrupled,  when  demanded  by  way  of  a  forced 
contribution.  I  quickly  found  (I  think  it  required  two  experi- 
ments to  convince  me)  that  this  peremptory  method  was  the 
only  one  which  could  be  adopted  with  success  ;  it  never  failed. 
Of  course,  however,  when  the  provisions  have  been  actually 
obtained,  you  can,  if  you  choose,  give  money  exceeding  the 
value  of  the  provisions  to  somebody:  an  English  —  a  thorough- 
bred English  traveler  will  always  do  this  (though  it  is  con- 
trary to  the  custom  of  the  country)  for  the  quiet  (false  quiet 
though  it  be)  of  his  own  conscience ;  but  so  to  order  the  mat- 

196 


EOTHEN 


197 


ter  that  the  poor  fellows  who  have  been  forced  to  contribute 
should  be  the  persons  to  receive  the  value  of  their  supplies 
is  not  possible ;  for  a  traveler  to  attempt  anything  so  grossly- 
just  as  that  would  be  too  outrageous.  The  truth  is  that 
the  usage  of  the  East,  in  old  times,  required  the  people  of 
a  village,  at  their  own  cost,  to  supply  the  wants  of  travelers, 
and  the  ancient  custom  is  now  adhered  to,  not  in  favor  of 
travelers  generally,  but  in  favor  of  those  who  are  deemed 
sufficiently  powerful  to  enforce  its  observance ;  if  the  villag- 
ers, therefore,  find  a  man  waiving  this  right  to  oppress  them, 
and  offering  coin  for  that  which  he  is  entitled  to  take  without 
payment,  they  suppose  at  once  that  he  is  actuated  by  fear 
(fear  of  them,  poor  fellows !),  and  it  is  so  delightful  to  them 
to  act  upon  this  flattering  assumption,  that  they  will  forego 
the  advantage  of  a  good  price  for  their  provisions,  rather 
than  the  rare  luxury  of  refusing  for  once  in  their  lives  to 
part  with  their  own  property. 

The  practise  of  intimidation,  thus  rendered  necessary,  is 
utterly  hateful  to  an  Englishman ;  he  finds  himself  forced  to 
conquer  his  daily  bread  by  the  pompous  threats  of  the  Drago- 
man ;  his  very  subsistence,  as  well  as  his  dignity  and  personal 
safety,  being  made  to  depend  upon  his  servants  assuming  a 
tone  of  authority  which  does  not  at  all  belong  to  him.  Be- 
sides, he  can  scarcely  fail  to  see  that,  as  he  passes  through  the 
country,  he  becomes  the  innocent  cause  of  much  extra  injustice 
—  many  supernumerary  wrongs.  This  he  feels  to  be  espe- 
cially the  case  when  he  travels  with  relays.  To  be  the  owner 
of  a  horse  or  a  mule,  within  reach  of  an  Asiatic  potentate,  is 
to  lead  the  life  of  the  hare  and  the  rabbit  —  hunted  down 
and  ferreted  out.  Too  often  it  happens  that  the  works  of 
the  field  are  stopped  in  the  daytime,  that  the  inmates  of  the 
cottage  are  roused  from  their  midnight  sleep,  by  the  sudden 
coming  of  a  Government  officer,  and  the  poor  husbandman, 
driven  by  threats  and  rewarded  by  curses,  if  he  would  not 
lose  sight  forever  of  his  captured  beasts,  must  quit  all  and 
follow  them ;  this  is  done  that  the  Englishman  may  travel ; 
he  would  make  his  way  more  harmlessly  if  he  could,  but 
horses  or  mules  he  must  have,  and  these  are  his  ways  and 
means. 

The   town    of    Nablous    is   beautiful;    it   lies    in    a  valley 


198  KINGLAKE 

hemmed  in  with  olive  groves,  and  its  buildings  are  inter- 
spersed with  frequent  palm-trees.  It  is  said  to  occupy  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Sychem.  I  know  not  whether  it  was  there, 
indeed,  that  the  father  of  the  Jews  was  accustomed  to  feed 
his  flocks ;  but  the  valley  is  green  and  smiling,  and  is  held  at 
this  day  by  a  race  more  brave  and  beautiful  than  Jacob's 
unhappy  descendants. 

Nablous  is  the  very  furnace  of  Mohammedan  bigotry,  and 
I  believe  that  only  a  few  months  before  the  time  of  my  going 
there  it  would  have  been  quite  unsafe  for  a  man,  unless 
strongly  guarded,  to  show  himself  to  the  people  of  the  town 
in  a  Frank  costume;  but  since  their  last  insurrection,  the 
Mohammedans  of  the  place  had  been  so  far  subdued  by  the 
severity  of  Ibrahim  Pasha  that  they  dared  not  now  offer  the 
slightest  insult  to  a  European.  It  was  quite  plain,  however, 
that  the  effort  with  which  the  men  of  the  old  school  refrained 
from  expressing  their  opinion  of  a  hat  and  a  coat  was  horri- 
bly painful  to  them  ;  as  I  walked  through  the  streets  and 
Bazaars,  a  dead  silence  prevailed;  every  man  suspended  his 
employment,  and  gazed  on  me  with  a  fixed,  glassy  look  which 
seemed  to  say,  "  God  is  good,  but  how  marvelous  and  inscru- 
table are  his  ways,  that  thus  he  permits  this  whitefaced  dog 
of  a  Christian  to  hunt  through  the  paths  of  the  faithful !  " 

The  insurrection  of  these  people  had  been  more  formidable 
than  any  other  that  Ibrahim  Pasha  had  to  contend  with  ;  he 
was  only  able  to  crush  them  at  last  by  the  assistance  of  a 
fellow  renowned  for  his  resources  in  the  way  of  stratagem 
and  cunning,  as  well  as  for  his  knowledge  of  the  country. 
This  personage  was  no  other  than  Aboo  Goosh  ("  the  father 
of  lies")^  who  was  taken  out  of  prison  for  the  purpose. 
The  "  father  of  lies  "  enabled  Ibrahim  to  hem  in  the  insurrec- 
tion and  extinguish  it ;  he  was  rewarded  with  the  Governor- 
ship of  Jerusalem,  which  he  held  when  I  was  there ;  I  recollect, 
by  the  by,  that  he  tried  one  of  his  stratagems  upon  me.  I 
did  not  go  to  see  him  as  I  ought  in  courtesy  to  have  done, 
during  my  stay  at  Jerusalem,  but  I  happened  to  be  the  owner 

^  This  is  an  appellation,  not  implying  blame,  but  merit ;  the  ''  lies  "  which 
it  purports  to  affiliate  are  feints  and  cunning  stratagems  rather  than  the 
baser  kind  of  falsehoods.  The  expression,  in  short,  has  nearly  the  same 
meaning  as  the  English  word  "  Yorkshireman." 


EOTHEN 


199 


of  a  rather  handsome  amber  tchibouque  piece  which  the  Gov- 
ernor heard  of,  and  by  some  means  contrived  to  see ;  he  sent 
to  me,  and  dressed  up  a  statement  that  he  would  give  me  a 
price  immensely  exceeding  the  sum  which  I  had  given  for  it. 
He  did  not  add  my  tchibouque  to  the  rest  of  his  trophies. 

There  was  a  small  number  of  Greek  Christians  resident  in 
Nablous,  and  over  these  the  Mussulmans  held  a  high  hand, 
not  even  permitting  them  to  speak  to  each  other  in  the  open 
streets;  but  if  the  Moslems  thus  set  themselves  above  the 
poor  Christians  of  the  place,  I,  or  rather  my  servants,  soon 
took  the  ascendent  over  them.  I  recollect  that  just  as  we 
were  starting  from  the  place,  and  at  a  time  when  a  number  of 
people  had  gathered  together  in  the  main  street  to  see  our 
preparations,  Mysseri,  being  provoked  at  some  piece  of  per- 
verseness  on  the  part  of  a  true  Believer,  coolly  thrashed  him 
with  his  horsewhip  before  the  assembled  crowd  of  fanatics. 
I  was  much  annoyed  at  the  time,  for  I  thought  that  the  peo- 
ple would  probably  rise  against  us.  They  turned  rather  pale, 
but  stood  still. 

The  day  of  my  arriving  at  Nablous  was  a  fete  —  the  Nev/ 
Year's  day  of  the  Mussulmans.^  Most  of  the  people  were 
amusing  themselves  in  the  beautiful  lawns  and  shady  groves 
without  the  city.  The  men  (except  myself)  were  all  remotely 
apart  from  the  other  sex.  The  women  in  groups  were  flivert- 
ing  themselves  and  their  children  with  swings.  They  were 
so  handsome  that  they  could  not  keep  up  their  yashmaks ;  I 
believe  that  they  had  never  before  looked  upon  a  man  in  the 
European  dress,  and  when  they  now  saw  in  me  that  strange 
phenomenon,  and  saw,  too,  how  they  could  please  the  crea- 
ture by  showing  him  a  glimpse  of  beauty,  they  seemed  to  think 
it  was  better  fun  to  do  this  than  to  go  on  playing  with  swings. 
It  was  always,  however,  with  a  sort  of  Zoological  expression 
of  countenance  that  they  looked  on  the  horrible  monster  from 
Europe,  and  whenever  one  of  them  gave  me  to  see  for  one 
sweet  instant  the  blushing  of  her  unveiled  face,  it  was  with 
the  same  kind  of  air  as  that  with  which  a  young,  timid  girl 
will  edge  her  way  up  to  an  elephant,  and  tremblingly  give 
him  a  nut  from  the  tips  of  her  rosy  fingers. 

1  The  29th  of  April. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

Mariam 

THERE  is  no  spirit  of  Propagandism  in  the  Mussulmans 
of  the  Ottoman  dominions.  True  it  is  that  a  prisoner 
of  War,  or  a  Christian  condemned  to  death,  may  on 
some  occasions  save  his  Hfe  by  adopting  the  religion  of 
Mohammed,  but  instances  of  this  kind  are  now  exceedingly 
rare,  and  are  quite  at  variance  with  the  general  system. 
Many  Europeans,  I  think,  would  be  surprised  to  learn  that 
which  is  nevertheless  quite  true,  namely,  that  an  attempt  to 
disturb  the  religious  repose  of  the  Empire  by  the  conversion 
of  a  Christian  to  the  Mohammedan  faith  is  positively  illegal ; 
an  incident  which  occurred  at  Nablous,  and  which  I  am  going 
to  mention,  showed  plainly  enough  that  the  unlawfulness  of 
such  interference  is  recognized  even  in  the  most  bigoted 
stronghold  of  Islam. 

During  my  stay  at  this  place  I  took  up  my  quarters  at  the 
house  of  the  Greek  Papa,  as  he  is  called,  that  is,  the  Greek 
Priest ;  the  priest  himself  had  gone  to  Jerusalem  upon  the 
business  I  am  going  to  tell  you  of,  but  his  wife  remained  at 
Nablous,  and  did  the  honors  of  her  home. 

Soon  after  my  arrival,  a  deputation  from  the  Greek  Chris- 
tians of  the  place  came  to  request  my  interference  in  a  matter 
which  had  occasioned  vast  excitement. 

And  now  I  must  tell  you  how  it  came  to  happen,  as  it  did 
continually,  that  people  thought  it  worth  while  to  claim  the 
assistance  of  a  mere  traveler,  who  was  totally  devoid  of  all 
just  pretensions  to  authority,  or  influence  of  even  the  humblest 
description,  and  especially  I  must  explain  to  you  how  it  was 
that  the  power  thus  attributed  did  really  belong  to  me,  or 
rather  to  my  Dragoman.  Successive  political  convulsions 
had  at  length  fairly  loosed  the  people  of  Syria  from  their  for- 
mer rules  of  conduct  and  from  all  their  old  habits  of  reliance. 


EOTHEN  20 1 

The  violence  and  success  with  which  Mehemet  AH  crushed 
the  insurrections  of  the  Mohammedan  population,  had  utterly- 
beaten  down  the  head  of  Islam,  and  extinguished,  for  the 
time  at  least,  those  virtues  and  vices  which  had  sprung  from 
the  Mohammedan  Faith.  Success  so  complete  as  Mehemet 
Ali's,  if  it  had  been  attained  by  an  ordinary  Asiatic  potentate, 
would  have  induced  a  notion  of  stability.  The  readily  bowing 
mind  of  the  Oriental  would  have  bowed  low  and  long  under 
the  foot  of  a  conqueror  whom  God  had  thus  strengthened. 
But  Syria  was  no  field  for  contests  strictly  Asiatic  —  Europe 
was  involved,  and  though  the  heavy  masses  of  Egyptian 
troops,  clinging  down  with  strong  gripe  upon  the  land,  might 
seem  to  hold  it  fast,  yet  every  peasant  practically  felt  and 
knew  that  in  Vienna,  or  Petersburg,  or  London,  there  were 
four  or  five  pale-looking  men  who  could  pull  down  the  star  of 
the  Pasha  with  shreds  of  paper  and  ink.  The  people  of  the 
country  knew,  too,  that  Mehemet  Ali  was  strong  with  the 
strength  of  the  Europeans,  —  strong  by  his  French  General, 
his  French  tactics,  and  his  English  engines.  Moreover,  they 
saw  that  the  person,  the  property,  and  even  the  dignity  of  the 
humblest  European  was  guarded  with  the  most  careful  solici- 
tude. The  consequence  of  all  this  was  that  the  people  of 
Syria  looked  vaguely,  but  confidently,  to  Europe  for  fresh 
changes ;  many  would  fix  upon  some  nation,  France  or  Eng- 
land, and  steadfastly  regard  it  as  the  arriving  sovereign  of 
Syria ;  those  whose  minds  remained  in  doubt  equally  con- 
tributed to  this  new  state  of  public  opinion,  which  no  longer 
depended  upon  Religion  and  ancient  habits,  but  upon  bare 
hopes  and  fears.  Every  man  wanted  to  know,  —  not  who 
was  his  neighbor,  but  who  was  to  be  his  ruler ;  whose  feet  he 
was  to  kiss,  and  by  whom  his  feet  were  to  be  ultimately 
beaten.  Treat  your  friend,  says  the  proverb,  as  though  he 
were  one  day  to  become  your  enemy,  and  your  enemy  as  though 
he  were  one  day  to  become  your  friend.  The  Syrians  went 
further,  and  seemed  inclined  to  treat  every  stranger  as  though 
he  might  one  day  become  their  Pasha.  Such  was  the  state 
of  circumstances  and  of  feeling  which  now  for  the  first  time 
had  thoroughly  opened  the  mind  of  western  Asia  for  the 
reception  of  Europeans  and  European  ideas.  The  credit  of 
the  English  especially  was  so  great,  that  a  good  Mussulman 


202  KINGLAKE 

flying  from  the  conscription,  or  any  other  persecution,  would 
come  to  seek  from  the  formerly  despised  hat  that  protection 
which  the  turban  could  no  longer  afford,  and  a  man  high  in 
authority  (as,  for  instance,  the  Governor  in  command  of  Gaza) 
would  think  that  he  had  won  a  prize,  or  at  all  events  a  valu- 
able lottery  ticket,  if  he  obtained  a  written  approval  of  his 
conduct  from  a  simple  traveler. 

Still,  in  order  that  any  immediate  result  should  follow  from 
all  this  unwonted  readiness  in  the  Asiatic  to  succumb  to  the 
European,  it  was  necessary  that  some  one  should  be  at  hand 
who  could  see  and  would  push  the  advantage  ;  I  myself  had 
neither  the  inclination  nor  the  power  to  do  so,  but  it  happened 
that  Dthemetri,  who  as  my  Dragoman  represented  me  on  all 
occasions,  was  the  very  person  of  all  others  best  fitted  to  avail 
himself  with  success  of  this  yielding  tendency  in  the  Oriental 
mind.  If  the  chance  of  birth  and  fortune  had  made  poor 
Dthemetri  a  tailor  during  some  part  of  his  life,  yet  Religion, 
and  the  literature  of  the  Church  which  he  served,  had  made 
him  a  Man,  and  a  brave  Man,  too.  The  lives  of  Saints  with 
which  he  was  familiar  were  full  of  heroic  actions,  which  in- 
vited imitation,  and  since  faith  in  a  creed  involves  a  faith  in 
its  ultimate  triumph,  Dthemetri  was  bold  from  a  sense  of  true 
strength ;  his  education,  too,  though  not  very  general  in  its 
character,  had  been  carried  quite  far  enough  to  justify  him  in 
pluming  himself  upon  a  very  decided  advantage  over  the  great 
bulk  of  the  Mohammedan  population,  including  the  men  of 
authority.  With  all  this  consciousness  of  religious  and  intel- 
lectual superiority,  Dthemetri  had  lived  for  the  most  part  in 
countries  lying  under  Mussulman  Governments,  and  had  wit- 
nessed (perhaps,  too,  had  suffered  from)  their  revolting  cruel- 
ties ;  the  result  was,  that  he  abhorred  and  despised  the  Mo- 
hammedan faith  and  all  who  clung  to  it.  And  this  hate  was 
not  of  the  dry,  dull,  and  inactive  sort ;  Dthemetri  was  in  his 
sphere  a  true  Crusader,  and  whenever  there  appeared  a  fair 
opening  in  the  defenses  of  Islam,  he  was  ready  and  eager  to 
make  the  assault.  These  sentiments,  backed  by  a  conscious- 
ness of  understanding  the  people  with  whom  he  had  to  do, 
made  Dthemetri  not  only  firm  and  resolute  in  his  constant  inter- 
views with  men  in  authority,  but  sometimes,  also  (as  you  may 
know  already),  very  violent,  and  even  insulting.     This  tone, 


EOTHEN 


203 


which  I  always  disliked,  though  I  was  fain  to  profit  by  it, 
invariably  succeeded :  it  swept  away  all  resistance ;  there  was 
nothing  in  the  then  depressed  and  succumbing  mind  of  the 
Mussulman  that  could  oppose  a  zeal  so  warm  and  fierce. 

As  for  me,  I  of  course  stood  aloft  from  Dthemetri's  cru- 
sades, and  did  not  even  render  him  any  active  assistance  when 
he  was  striving  (as  he  almost  always  was,  poor  fellow)  on  my 
behalf;  I  was  only  the  death's  head  and  white  sheet  with 
which  he  scared  the  enemy ;  I  think,  however,  that  I  played 
this  spectral  part  exceedingly  well,  for  I  seldom  appeared  at 
all  in  any  discussion,  and  whenever  I  did  I  was  sure  to  be 
pale  and  calm. 

The  event  which  induced  the  Christians  of  Nablous  to  seek 
for  my  assistance  was  this.  A  beautiful  young  Christian, 
between  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  old,  had  lately  been  married 
to  a  man  of  her  own  creed.  About  the  same  time  (probably 
on  the  occasion  of  her  wedding)  she  was  accidentally  seen  by  a 
Mussulman  Sheik  of  great  wealth  and  local  influence,  who 
instantly  became  madly  enamored  of  her.  The  strict  morality 
which  so  generally  prevails  where  the  Mussulmans  have  com- 
plete ascendency  prevented  the  Sheik  from  entertaining  any 
such  sinful  hopes  as  a  European  might  have  ventured  to 
cherish  under  the  like  circumstances,  and  he  saw  no  chance 
of  gratifying  his  love,  except  by  inducing  the  girl  to  embrace 
his  own  creed ;  if  he  could  induce  her  to  take  this  step,  her 
marriage  with  a  Christian  would  be  dissolved,  and  then  there 
would  be  nothing  to  prevent  him  from  making  her  the  last 
and  brightest  of  his  wives.  The  Sheik  was  a  practical  man, 
and  quickly  began  his  attack  upon  the  theological  opinions  of 
the  bride ;  he  did  not  assail  her  with  the  eloquence  of  any 
Imaums  or  Mussulman  Saints  —  he  did  not  press  upon  her  the 
eternal  truths  of  the  "  Cow,"  ^  or  the  beautiful  morality  of  the 
"  Table,"  1  —  he  sent  her  no  tracts  —  not  even  a  copy  of 
the  holy  Koran.  An  old  woman  acted  as  missionary.  She 
brought  with  her  a  whole  basketful  of  arguments  —  jewels, 
and  shawls,  and  scarfs,  and  all  kinds  of  persuasive  finery. 
Poor  Mariam  !  she  put  on  the  jewels,  and  took  a  calm  view  of 
the  Mohammedan  Religion  in  a  little  hand  mirror —  she  could 

^  These  are  the  names  given  by  the  Prophet  to  certain  chapters  of  the 
Koran. 


204  KINGLAKE 

not  be  deaf  to  such  eloquent  earrings,  and  the  great  truths  of 
Islam  came  home  to  her  young  bosom  in  the  delicate  folds  of 
the  Cashmere ;  she  was  ready  to  abandon  her  faith. 

The  Sheik  knew  very  well  that  his  attempt  to  convert  an 
infidel  was  illegal,  and  that  his  proceedings  would  not  bear 
investigation,  so  he  took  care  to  pay  a  large  sum  to  the 
Governor  of  Nablous  in  order  to  obtain  his  connivance. 

At  length  Mariam  quitted  her  home,  and  placed  herself 
under  the  protection  of  the  Mohammedan  authorities,  who, 
however,  refrained  from  delivering  her  into  the  arms  of  her 
lover,  and  detained  her  in  a  mosque,  until  the  fact  of  her  real 
conversion  (which  had  been  indignantly  denied  by  her  relatives) 
should  be  established.  For  two  or  three  days  the  mother  of 
the  young  convert  was  prevented  from  communicating  with 
her  child  by  various  evasive  contrivances,  but  not,  it  would 
seem,  by  a  flat  refusal.  At  length  it  was  announced  that  the 
young  lady's  profession  of  faith  might  be  heard  from  her  own 
lips.  At  an  hour  appointed,  the  friends  of  the  Sheik  and  the 
relatives  of  the  damsel  met  in  the  mosque.  The  young  con- 
vert addressed  her  mother  in  a  loud  voice,  and  said,  "  God  is 
God,  and  Mohammed  is  the  Prophet  of  God,  and  thou,  O  my 
mother,  art  an  infidel  feminine  dog !  " 

You  would  suppose  that  this  declaration,  so  clearly  enounced, 
and  that,  too,  in  a  place  where  Mohammedanism  is,  perhaps, 
more  supreme  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  Empire,  would 
have  sufficed  to  confirm  the  pretensions  of  the  lover.  This, 
however,  was  not  the  case.  The  Greek  Priest  of  the  place  was 
despatched  on  a  mission  to  the  Governor  of  Jerusalem  (Aboo 
Goosh)  in  order  to  complain  against  the  proceedings  of  the 
Sheik,  and  obtain  a  restitution  of  the  bride.  Meanwhile  the 
Mohammedan  authorities  at  Nablous  were  so  conscious  of 
having  acted  unlawfully,  in  conspiring  to  disturb  the  faith  of  the 
beautiful  infidel,  that  they  hesitated  to  take  any  further  step, 
and  the  girl  was  still  detained  in  the  mosque. 

Thus  matters  stood  when  the  Christians  of  the  place  came 
and  sought  to  obtain  my  assistance. 

I  felt  (with  regret)  that  I  had  no  personal  interest  in  the 
matter,  and  I  also  thought  that  there  was  no  pretense  for  my 
interfering  with  the  conflicting  claims  of  the  Christian  husband 
and  the  Mohammedan  lover,  and  I  therefore  declined  to  take 
any  step. 


EOTHEN  205 

My  speaking  of  the  husband,  by  the  by,  reminds  me  that  he 
was  extremely  backward  about  the  great  work  of  recovering 
his  youthful  bride.  The  relations  of  the  girl,  who  felt  them- 
selves disgraced  by  her  conduct,  were  vehement,  and  excited 
to  a  high  pitch,  but  the  Menelaus  of  Nablous  was  exceedingly 
calm  and  composed. 

The  fact  that  it  was  not  technically  my  duty  to  interfere  in 
a  matter  of  this  kind  was  a  very  sufficient,  and  yet  a  very 
unsatisfactory,  reason  for  my  refusal  of  all  assistance.  Until 
you  are  placed  in  situations  of  this  kind,  you  can  hardly  tell 
how  painful  it  is  to  refrain  from  intermeddling  in  other  people's 
affairs  —  to  refrain  from  intermeddling  when  you  feel  that  you 
can  do  so  with  happy  effect,  and  can  remove  a  load  of  distress 
by  the  use  of  a  few  small  phrases.  Upon  this  occasion,  how- 
ever, an  expression  fell  from  one  of  the  girl's  kinsmen,  which 
not  only  determined  me  against  all  interference,  but  made  me 
hope  that  all  attempts  to  recover  the  proselyte  would  fail ;  this 
person,  speaking  with  the  most  savage  bitterness,  and  with 
the  cordial  approval  of  all  the  other  relatives,  said  that  the  girl 
ought  to  be  beaten  to  death.  I  could  not  fail  to  see  that  if  the 
poor  child  were  ever  restored  to  her  family,  she  would  be 
treated  with  the  most  frightful  barbarity ;  I  heartily  wished, 
therefore,  that  the  Mussulmans  might  be  firm,  and  preserve 
their  young  prize  from  any  fate  so  dreadful  as  that  of  a  return 
to  her  own  relations. 

The  next  day  the  Greek  Priest  returned  from  his  mission  to 
Aboo  Goosh,  but  the  "  father  of  lies,"  it  would  seem,  had  been 
well  plied  with  the  gold  of  the  enamored  Sheik,  and  contrived 
to  put  off  the  prayers  of  the  Christian  by  cunning  feints.  Now, 
therefore,  a  second  and  more  numerous  deputation  than  the 
first  waited  upon  me,  and  implored  my  intervention  with  the 
Governor.  I  informed  the  assembled  Christians  that  since 
their  last  application  I  had  carefully  considered  the  matter. 
The  religious  question,  I  thought,  might  be  put  aside  at  once, 
for  the  excessive  levity  which  the  girl  had  displayed  proved 
clearly  that,  in  adopting  Mohammedanism,  she  was  not  quitting 
any  other  religion  ;  her  mind  must  have  been  thoroughly  blank 
upon  religious  questions,  and  she  was  not,  therefore,  to  be 
treated  as  a  Christian  that  had  strayed  from  the  flock,  but 
rather  as  a  child  without  any  religion  at  all,  who  was  willing 


206  KINGLAKE 

to  conform  to  the  usages  of  those  who  would  deck  her  with 
jewels,  and  clothe  her  with  Cashmere  shawls. 

So  much  for  the  religious  part  of  the  question.  Well,  then, 
in  a  merely  temporal  sense,  it  appeared  to  me  that  (looking 
merely  to  the  interests  of  the  damsel,  for  I  rather  unjustly 
put  poor  Menelaus  quite  out  of  the  question)  the  advantages 
were  all  on  the  side  of  the  Mohammedan  match.  The  Sheik 
was  in  a  much  higher  station  of  life  than  the  superseded 
husband,  and  had  given  the  best  possible  proof  of  his  ardent 
affection,  by  the  sacrifices  which  he  had  made,  and  the  risks 
which  he  had  incurred  for  the  sake  of  the  beloved  object.  I 
therefore  stated  fairly,  to  the  horror  and  amazement  of  all  my 
hearers,  that  the  Sheik,  in  my  view,  was  likely  to  make  a  most 
capital  husband,  and  that  I  entirely  "  approved  of  the  match." 

I  left  Nablous  under  the  impression  that  Mariam  would 
soon  be  delivered  to  her  Mussulman  lover  ;  I  afterwards  found, 
however,  that  the  result  was  very  different.  Dthemetri's 
religious  zeal  and  hate  had  been  so  much  excited  by  the 
account  of  these  events,  and  by  the  grief  and  mortification  of 
his  coreligionists,  that  when  he  found  me  firmly  determined 
to  decline  all  interference  in  the  matter,  he  secretly  appealed 
to  the  Governor  in  my  name  and  (using,  I  suppose,  many 
violent  threats,  and  telling,  no  doubt,  many  lies  about  my 
station  and  influence)  extorted  a  promise  that  the  proselyte 
should  be  restored  to  her  relatives.  I  did  not  understand  that 
the  girl  had  been  actually  given  up  whilst  I  remained  at 
Nablous,  but  Dthemetri  certainly  did  not  desist  from  his 
instances  until  he  had  satisfied  himself  by  some  means  or 
other  (for  mere  words  amounted  to  nothing)  that  the  promise 
would  be  actually  performed.  It  was  not  till  I  had  quitted 
Syria,  and  when  Dthemetri  was  no  longer  in  my  service,  that 
this  villainous  though  well-motived  trick  of  his  came  to  my 
knowledge ;  Mysseri,  who  informed  me  of  the  step  which  had 
been  taken,  did  not  know  it  himself  until  some  time  after  we 
had  quitted  Nablous,  when  Dthemetri  exultingly  confessed  his 
successful  enterprise.  I  know  not  whether  the  engagement 
which  my  zealous  Dragoman  extorted  from  the  Governor  was 
ever  complied  with.  I  shudder  to  think  of  the  fate  which  must 
have  befallen  poor  Mariam,  if  she  fell  into  the  hands  of  her 
husband. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

The  Prophet  Damoor 

I  OR  some  hours  I  passed  along  the  shores  of  the  fair 
Lake  of  GaHlee,  and  then  turning  a  little  to  the  west- 
ward I  struck  into  a  mountainous  country,  the  charac- 
ter of  which  became  more  bold  and  beautiful  as  I  advanced. 
At  length  I  drew  near  to  Safet,  which  sits  as  proud  as  a  for- 
tress upon  the  summit  of  a  craggy  height,  and  yet  because  of 
its  minarets  and  stately  trees  the  place  looks  bright  and 
beautiful.  It  is  one  of  the  holy  cities  of  the  Talmud,  and 
according  to  this  authority  the  Messiah  will  reign  there  forty 
years  before  he  takes  possession  of  Zion.  The  sanctity 
thus  attributed  to  the  city  renders  it  a  favorite  place  of  re- 
tirement for  Israelites,  of  whom  it  contains  four  thousand,  a 
number  nearly  balancing  that  of  the  Mohammedan  inhabitants. 
I  knew  by  my  experience  of  Tabarieh  that  a  "  holy  city  "  was 
sure  to  have  a  population  of  vermin  somewhat  proportionate 
to  the  number  of  its  Israelites,  and  I  therefore  caused  my 
tent  to  be  pitched  upon  a  green  spot  of  ground  at  a  respect- 
able distance  from  the  walls  of  the  town. 

When  it  had  become  quite  dark  (for  there  was  no  moon 
that  night),  I  was  informed  that  several  Jews  had  secretly 
come  from  the  city,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  some  assistance 
from  me  in  circumstances  of  imminent  danger;  I  was  also 
informed  that  they  claimed  my  aid  upon  the  ground  that  some 
of  their  number  were  British  subjects.  It  was  arranged  that 
the  two  principal  men  of  the  party  should  speak  for  the  rest, 
and  these  were  accordingly  admitted  into  my  tent.  One  of 
the  two  called  himself  the  British  Vice-Consul,  and  he  had 
with  him  his  consular  cap ;  but  he  frankly  said  that  he  could 
not  have  dared  to  assume  this  emblem  of  his  dignity  in  the 
daytime,  and  that  nothing  but  the  extreme  darkness  of  the 
night  rendered  it  safe  for  him  to  put  it  on  upon  this  occasion. 

207 


208  KINGLAKE 

The  other  of  the  spokesmen  was  a  Jew  of  Gibraltar,  a  tol- 
erably well-bred  person,  who  spoke  English  very  fluently. 

These  men  informed  me  that  the  Jews  of  the  place,  who 
were  exceedingly  wealthy,  had  lived  peaceably  in  their  re- 
tirement until  the  insurrection  which  took  place  in  1834,  but 
about  the  beginning  of  that  year  a  highly  religious  Mussul- 
man, called  Mohammed  Damoor,  went  forth  into  the  market- 
place, crying  with  a  loud  voice,  and  prophesying  that  on  the 
fifteenth  of  the  following  June  the  true  Believers  would  rise 
up  in  just  wrath  against  the  Jews,  and  despoil  them  of  their 
gold,  and  their  silver,  and  their  jewels.  The  earnestness  of 
the  prophet  produced  some  impression  at  the  time,  but  all 
went  on  as  usual  until  at  last  the  fifteenth  of  June  arrived. 
When  that  day  dawned  the  whole  Mussulman  population  of 
the  place  assembled  in  the  streets,  that  they  might  see  the 
result  of  the  prophecy.  Suddenly  Mohammed  Damoor  rushed 
furious  into  the  crowd,  and  the  fierce  shout  of  the  prophet 
soon  insured  the  fulfilment  of  his  prophecy.  Some  of  the 
Jews  fled,  and  some  remained,  but  they  who  fled,  and  they 
who  remained,  alike  and  unresistingly  left  their  property  to 
the  hands  of  the  spoilers.  The  most  odious  of  all  outrages, 
that  of  searching  the  women  for  the  base  purpose  of  discov- 
ering such  things  as  gold  and  silver  concealed  about  their 
persons,  was  perpetrated  without  shame.  The  poor  Jews 
were  so  stricken  with  terror,  that  they  submitted  to  their  fate, 
even  where  resistance  would  have  been  easy.  In  several  in- 
stances a  young  Mussulman  boy,  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve 
years  of  age,  walked  straight  into  the  house  of  a  Jew,  and 
stripped  him  of  his  property  before  his  face  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  whole  family.^  When  the  insurrection  was  put 
down,  some  of  the  Mussulmans  (most  probably  those  who 
had  got  no  spoil  wherewith  they  might  buy  immunity)  were 
punished,  but  the  greater  part  of  them  escaped ;  none  of 
the  booty  was  restored,  and  the  pecuniary  redress  which 
the  Pasha  had  undertaken  to  enforce  for  them  had  been 
hitherto  so  carefully  delayed,  that  the  hope  of  ever  obtaining 
it  had  grown  very  faint.  A  new  Governor  had  been  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  place,  with  stringent  orders  to  ascer- 

^  It  was  after  the  interview  which  I  am  talking  of,  and  not  from  the  Jews 
themselves,  that  I  learnt  this  fact. 


EOTHEN 


209 


tain  the  real  extent  of  the  losses,  and  to  discover  the  spoilers, 
with  the  view  of  compelling  them  to  make  restitution.  It  was 
found  that,  notwithstanding  the  urgency  of  the  instructions 
which  the  Governor  had  received,  he  did  not  push  on  the 
affair  with  the  vigor  which  had  been  expected  ;  the  Jews  com- 
plained, and  either  by  the  protection  of  the  British  Consul  at 
Damascus,  or  by  some  other  means,  had  influence  enough  to 
induce  the  appointment  of  a  special  Commissioner, — they 
called  him  "the  Modeer,"  —  whose  duty  it  was  to  watch  for 
and  prevent  anything  like  connivance  on  the  part  of  the 
Governor,  and  to  push  on  the  investigation  with  vigor  and 
impartiality. 

Such  were  the  instructions  with  which  some  few  weeks 
since  the  Modeer  came  fraught;  the  result  was  that  the 
investigation  had  made  no  practical  advance,  and  that  the 
Modeer,  as  well  as  the  Governor,  was  living  upon  terms  of 
affectionate  friendship  with  Mohammed  Damoor  and  the 
rest  of  the  principal  spoilers. 

Thus  stood  the  chances  of  redress  for  the  past,  but  the 
cause  of  the  agonizing  excitement  under  which  the  Jews  of 
the  place  now  labored  was  recent  and  justly  alarming : 
Mohammed  Damoor  had  again  gone  forth  into  the  market- 
place, and  lifted  up  his  voice,  and  prophesied  a  second  spo- 
liation of  the  Israelites.  This  was  a  grave  matter ;  the  words 
of  such  a  practical  man  as  Mohammed  Damoor  were  not  to 
be  despised.  I  fear  I  must  have  smiled  visibly,  for  I  was 
greatly  amused,  and  even,  I  think,  gratified,  at  the  account 
of  this  second  prophecy.  Nevertheless,  my  heart  warmed 
toward  the  poor  oppressed  Israelites,  and  I  was  flattered 
too,  in  the  point  of  my  national  vanity,  at  the  notion  of  the 
far-reaching  link,  by  which  a  Jew  in  Syria,  who  had  been 
born  on  the  rock  of  Gibraltar,  was  able  to  claim  me  as  his 
fellow  countryman.  If  I  hesitated  at  all  between  the  "im- 
propriety "  of  interfering  in  a  matter  which  was  no  business 
of  mine,  and  the  "horrid  shame"  of  refusing  my  aid  at  such 
a  conjucture,  I  soon  came  to  a  very  ungentlemanly  decision 
—  namely,  that  I  would  be  guilty  of  the  "impropriety"  and 
not  of  the  "  horrid  shame."  It  seemed  to  me  that  the  imme- 
diate arrest  of  Mohammed  Damoor  was  the  one  thing  need- 
ful to  the  safety  of  the  Jews,  and  I  felt  confident  (for  reasons 
29 


210  KINGLAKE 

which  I  have  already  mentioned  in  speaking  of  the  Nablous 
affair)  that  I  should  be  able  to  obtain  this  result  by  making 
a  formal  application  to  the  Governor,  I  told  my  applicants 
that  I  would  take  this  step  on  the  following  morning ;  they 
were  very  grateful,  and  were  for  a  moment  much  pleased  at 
the  prospect  of  safety  which  might  thus  be  opened  to  them, 
but  the  deliberation  of  a  minute  entirely  altered  their  views, 
and  filled  them  with  new  terror :  they  declared  that  any  at- 
tempt, or  pretended  attempt,  on  the  part  of  the  Governor  to 
arrest  Mohammed  Damoor  would  certainly  produce  an  imme- 
diate movement  of  the  whole  Mussulman  population,  and  a  con- 
sequent massacre  and  robbery  of  the  Israelites.  My  visitors 
went  out  and  occupied  considerable  time,  if  I  rightly  remem- 
ber, in  consulting  their  brethren,  but  all  agreed  that  their 
present  perilous  and  painful  position  was  better  than  the  cer- 
tain and  immediate  attack  which  would  be  made  if  Moham- 
med Damoor  were  seized  —  that  their  second  estate  would  be 
worse  than  their  first.  I  myself  did  not  think  that  this  would 
be  the  case,  but  I  could  not,  of  course,  force  my  aid  upon  the 
people  against  their  will,  and  moreover  the  day  fixed  for  the 
fulfilment  of  this  second  prophecy  was  not  very  close  at 
hand;  a  little  delay,  therefore,  in  providing  against  the 
impending  danger  would  not  necessarily  be  fatal.  The 
men  now  confessed  that  although  they  had  come  with  so 
much  mystery,  and  as  they  thought  at  so  great  a  risk,  to 
ask  my  assistance,  they  were  unable  to  suggest  any  mode  in 
which  I  could  aid  them,  except,  indeed,  by  mentioning  their 
grievances  to  the  Consul-General  at  Damascus.  This  I  prom- 
ised to  do,  and  this  I  did. 

My  visitors  were  very  thankful  to  me  for  the  readiness 
which  I  had  shown  to  intermeddle  in  their  affairs,  and  the 
grateful  wives  of  the  principal  Jews  sent  to  me  many  compli- 
ments, with  choice  wines  and  elaborate  sweetmeats. 

The  course  of  my  travels  soon  drew  me  so  far  from  Safet 
that  I  never  heard  how  the  dreadful  day  passed  off  which 
had  been  fixed  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  second  proph- 
ecy. If  the  predicted  spoliation  was  prevented,  poor  Moham- 
med Damoor  must  have  been  forced,  I  suppose,  to  say  that 
he  had  prophesied  in  a  metaphorical  sense.  This  would  be  a 
sad  falling  off  from  the  brilliant  and  substantial  success  of 
the  first  experiment. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

Damascus 

I  OR  a  part  of  two  days  I  wound  under  the  base  of  the 
snow-crowned  Djibel  cl  Sheik,  and  then  entered  upon 
a  vast  and  desolate  plain,  rarely  pierced  at  intervals  by 
some  sort  of  withered  stem.  The  earth  in  its  length  and  its 
breadth,  and  all  the  deep  universe  of  sky,  was  steeped  in  light 
and  heat.  On  I  rode  through  the  fire,  but  long  before  evening 
came  there  were  straining  eyes  that  saw,  and  joyful  voices  that 
announced,  the  sight  —  of  Shaum  Shereef  —  the  "  Holy,"  the 
"  Blessed  "  Damascus. 

But  that  which  at  last  I  reached  with  my  longing  eyes  was 
not  a  speck  in  the  horizon,  gradually  expanding  to  a  group  of 
roofs  and  walls,  but  a  long,  low  line  of  blackest  green  that 
ran  right  across  in  the  distance  from  east  to  west.  And  this, 
as  I  approached,  grew  deeper  —  grew  wavy  in  its  outline; 
soon  forest  trees  shot  up  before  my  eyes  and  robed  their 
broad  shoulders  so  freshly  that  all  the  throngs  of  olives  as 
they  rose  into  view  looked  sad  in  their  proper  dimness. 
There  were  even  now  no  houses  to  see,  but  only  the  minarets 
peered  out  from  the  midst  of  shade  into  the  glowing  sky  and 
bravely  touched  the  sun.  There  seemed  to  be  here  no  mere 
city,  but  rather  a  province,  wide  and  rich,  that  bounded  the 
torrid  waste. 

Until  within  a  year  or  two  of  the  time  at  which  I  went 
there,  Damascus  had  kept  up  so  much  of  the  old  bigot  zeal 
against  Christians,  or  rather  against  Europeans,  that  no  one 
dressed  as  a  Frank  could  have  dared  to  show  himself  in  the 
streets;  but  the  firmness  and  temper  of  Mr.  Farren,  who 
hoisted  his  flag  in  the  city  as  Consul-General  for  the  district, 
had  soon  put  an  end  to  all  intolerance  of  Englishmen. 
Damascus   was    safer   than   Oxford.^     When  I   entered  the 

J  An  enterprising  American  traveler,  Mr.  Everett,  lately  conceived  the 
bold  project  of  penetrating  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  this,  notwith- 

211 


212  KINGLAKE 

city,  in  my  usual  dress,  there  was  but  one  poor  fellow  that 
wagged  his  tongue,  and  him,  in  the  open  streets,  Dthemetri 
horsewhipped.  During  my  stay  I  went  wherever  I  chose, 
and  attended  the  public  baths  without  molestation.  Indeed, 
my  relations  with  the  pleasanter  portion  of  the  Mohammedan 
population  were  upon  a  much  better  footing  here  than  at  most 
other  places. 

In  the  principal  streets  of  Damascus  there  is  a  path  for 
foot  passengers,  which  is  raised,  I  think,  a  foot  or  two  above 
the  bridle-road.  Until  the  arrival  of  the  British  consul- 
general,  none  but  a  Mussulman  had  been  permitted  to  walk 
upon  the  upper  way.  Mr.  Farren  would  not,  of  course,  suffer 
that  the  humiliation  of  any  such  exclusion  should  be  sub- 
mitted to  by  an  Englishman,  and  I  always  walked  upon  the 
raised  path  as  free  and  unmolested  as  if  I  had  been  striding 
through  Bond  Street;  the  old  usage  was,  however,  main- 
tained with  as  much  strictness  as  ever  against  the  Christian 
Rayahs  and  Jews ;  not  one  of  them  could  have  set  his  foot 
upon  the  privileged  path  without  endangering  his  life. 

I  was  lounging  one  day,  I  remember,  along  "  the  paths  of 
the  faithful,"  when  a  Christian  Rayah  from  the  bridle-road 
below  saluted  me  with  such  earnestness,  and  craved  so  anx- 
iously to  speak  and  be  spoken  to,  that  he  soon  brought  me 
to  a  halt.  He  had  nothing  to  tell,  except  only  the  glory  and 
exultation  with  which  he  saw  a  fellow  Christian  stand  level 
with  the  imperious  Mussulmans ;  perhaps  he  had  been  absent 
from  the  place  for  some  time,  for  otherwise  I  hardly  know 
how  it  could  have  happened  that  my  exaltation  was  the  first 
instance  he  had  seen.  His  joy  was  great;  so  strong  and 
strenuous  was  England  (Lord  Palmerston  reigned  in  those 
days)  that  it  was  a  pride  and  delight  for  a  Syrian  Christian 
to  look  up,  and  say  that  the  Englishman's  faith  was  his  too. 

standing  that  he  had  been  in  his  infancy  (they  begin  very  young,  those 
Americans)  a  Unitarian  preacher.  Having  a  notion,  it  seems,  that  the 
Ambassadorial  character  would  protect  him  from  insult,  he  adopted  the 
stratagem  of  procuring  credentials  from  his  government  as  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary at  the  Court  of  her  Britannic  Majesty ;  he  also  wore  the  exact 
costume  of  a  Trinitarian,  but  all  his  contrivances  were  vain :  Oxford  dis- 
dained and  rejected  him,  not  because  he  represented  a  swindling  commun- 
ity, but  because  that  his  infantine  sermons  were  strictly  remembered 
against  him ;  the  enterprise  failed. 


A    S  TREE  T  IN  DA  MA  SCUS. 
Photogravure  from  a  painting  by  Charles  Werner. 


a  striding 


b 


EOTHEN  213 

If  I  was  vexed  at  all  that  I  could  not  give  the  man  a  lift,  and 
shake  hands  with  him  on  level  ground,  there  was  no  alloy  to 
his  pleasure;  he  followed  me  on,  not  looking  to  his  own 
path,  but  keeping  his  eyes  on  me ;  he  saw,  as  he  thought  and 
said  (for  he  came  with  me  on  to  my  quarters),  the  period  of 
the  Mohammedan's  absolute  ascendency  —  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian's.  He  had  so  closely  associated  the  insulting 
privilege  of  the  path  with  actual  dominion,  that  seeing  it  now 
in  one  instance  abandoned,  he  looked  for  the  quick  coming  of 
European  troops.  His  lips  only  whispered,  and  that  tremu- 
lously, but  his  fiery  eyes  spoke  out  their  triumph  in  long  and 
loud  hurrahs  !  "  I,  too,  am  a  Christian.  My  foes  are  the  foes 
of  the  English.  We  are  all  one  people,  and  Christ  is  our 
King." 

If  I  poorly  deser\^ed,  yet  I  liked  this  claim  of  brotherhood. 
Not  all  the  warnings  which  I  heard  against  their  rascality 
could  hinder  me  from  feeling  kindly  towards  my  fellow 
Christians  in  the  East.  English  travelers,  from  a  habit  per- 
haps of  depreciating  sectarians  in  their  own  country,  are  apt  to 
look  down  upon  the  Oriental  Christians  as  being  "  dissenters  " 
from  the  established  religion  of  a  Mohammedan  Empire.  I 
never  did  thus.  By  a  natural  perversity  of  disposition,  which 
my  nurse-maids  called  contrairiness,  I  felt  the  more  strongly 
for  my  creed  when  I  saw  it  despised  among  men.  I  quite 
tolerated  the  Christianity  of  Mohammedan  countries,  notwith- 
standing its  humble  aspect,  and  the  damaged  character  of  its 
followers ;  I  went  further,  and  extended  some  sympathy 
towards  those  who,  with  all  the  claims  of  superior  intellect, 
learning,  and  industry,  were  kept  down  under  the  heel  of  the 
Mussulmans  by  reason  of  their  having  our  faith.  I  heard,  as 
I  fancied,  the  faint  echo  of  an  old  Crusader's  conscience, 
that  whispered,  and  said,  "  Common  cause  !  "  The  impulse 
was,  as  you  may  suppose,  much  too  feeble  to  bring  me  into 
trouble  ;  it  merely  influenced  my  actions  in  a  way  thoroughly 
characteristic  of  this  poor  sluggish  century,  that  is,  by  mak- 
ing me  speak  almost  as  civilly  to  the  followers  of  Christ  as  I 
did  to  their  Mohammedan  foes. 

This  "  Holy  "  Damascus,  this  "  earthly  paradise  "  of  the 
Prophet,  so  fair  to  the  eyes,  that  he  dared  not  trust  himself  to 
tarry  in  her  blissful  shades,  she  is  a  city  of  hidden  palaces,  of 


214  KINGLAKE 

copses,  and  gardens,  and  fountains,  and  babbling  streams. 
The  juice  of  her  life  is  the  gushing  and  ice-cold  torrent  that 
tumbles  from  the  snowy  sides  of  Anti-Lebanon.  Close  along 
on  the  river's  edge,  through  seven  sweet  miles  of  rustling  boughs 
and  deepest  shade,  the  city  spreads  out  her  whole  length  ;  as  a 
man  falls  flat,  face  forward  on  the  brook,  that  he  may  drink, 
and  drink  again,  so  Damascus,  thirsting  forever,  lies  down 
with  her  lips  to  the  stream,  and  clings  to  its  rushing  waters. 

The  chief  places  of  public  amusement,  or  rather,  of  public 
relaxation,  are  the  baths,  and  the  great  cafe ;  this  last, 
which  is  frequented  at  night  by  most  of  the  wealthy  men,  and 
by  many  of  the  humbler  sort,  consists  of  a  number  of  sheds 
very  simply  framed,  and  built  in  a  labyrinth  of  running 
streams,  which  foam  and  roar  on  every  side.  The  place  is  lit 
up  in  the  simplest  manner  by  numbers  of  small,  pale  lamps, 
strung  upon  loose  cords,  and  so  suspended  branch  to  branch, 
that  the  light,  though  it  looks  so  quiet  amongst  the  darken- 
ing foliage,  yet  leaps  and  brightly  flashes,  as  it  falls  upon  the 
troubled  waters.  All  around,  and  chiefly  upon  the  very  edge 
of  the  torrents,  groups  of  people  are  tranquilly  seated.  They 
all  drink  coffee,  and  inhale  the  cold  fumes  of  the  narguile ; 
they  talk  rather  gently  the  one  to  the  other,  or  else  are  silent. 
A  father  will  sometimes  have  two  or  three  of  his  boys  around 
him,  but  the  joyousness  of  an  Oriental  child  is  all  of  the  sober 
sort,  and  never  disturbs  the  reigning  calm  of  the  land. 

It  has  been  generally  understood,  I  believe,  that  the  houses 
of  Damascus  are  more  sumptuous  than  those  of  any  other 
city  in  the  East.  Some  of  these  —  said  to  be  the  most  mag- 
nificent in  the  place  —  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing. 

Every  rich  man's  house  stands  detached  from  its  neighbors, 
at  the  side  of  a  garden,  and  it  is  from  this  cause,  no  doubt, 
that  the  city  has  hitherto  escaped  destruction.  You  know 
some  parts  of  Spain,  but  you  have  never,  I  think,  been  in 
Andalusia ;  if  you  had,  I  could  easily  show  you  the  interior 
of  a  Damascene  house,  by  referring  you  to  the  Alhambra,  or 
Alcanzar  of  Seville.  The  lofty  rooms  are  adorned  with  a  rich 
inlaying  of  many  colors,  and  illuminated  writing  on  the  walls. 
The  floors  are  of  marble.  One  side  of  any  room  intended  for 
noonday  retirement  is  generally  laid  open  to  a  quadrangle,  in 
the  center  of  v/hich  there  dances  the  jet  of  a  fountain.     There 


EOTHEN  215 

is  no  furniture  that  can  interfere  with  the  cool,  palace-like 
emptiness  of  the  apartments.  A  divan  (which  is  a  low  and 
doubly  broad  sofa)  runs  round  the  three  walled  sides  of  the 
room  ;  a  few  Persian  carpets  (which  ought  to  be  called  Persian 
rugs,  for  that  is  the  word  which  indicates  their  shape  and 
dimension)  are  sometimes  thrown  about  near  the  divan  ;  they 
are  placed  without  order,  the  one  partly  lapping  over  the 
other,  and  thus  disposed,  they  give  to  the  room  an  appear- 
ance of  uncaring  luxury ;  except  these  (of  which  I  saw  few, 
for  the  time  was  summer  and  fiercely  hot),  there  is  nothing  to 
obstruct  the  welcome  air,  and  the  whole  of  the  marble  floor 
from  one  divan  to  the  other,  and  from  the  head  of  the  chamber 
across  to  the  murmuring  fountain,  is  thoroughly  open  and 
free. 

So  simple  as  this  is  Asiatic  luxury !  The  Oriental  is  not  a 
contriving  animal  —  there  is  nothing  intricate  in  his  magnifi- 
cence. The  impossibility  of  handing  down  property  from 
father  to  son,  for  any  long  period  consecutively,  seems  to  pre- 
vent the  existence  of  those  traditions  by  which,  with  us,  the 
refined  modes  of  applying  wealth  are  made  known  to  its 
inheritors.  We  know  that  in  England  a  newly-made  rich  man 
cannot,  by  taking  thought  and  spending  money,  obtain  even 
the  same  looking  furniture  as  a  Gentleman,  The  complicated 
character  of  an  English  establishment  allows  room  for  subtle 
distinctions  between  that  which  is  "comme  il  faut"  and  that 
which  is  not.  All  such  refinements  are  unknown  in  the  East ; 
the  Pasha  and  the  peasant  have  the  same  tastes.  The  broad, 
cold,  marble  floor  —  the  simple  couch  —  the  air  freshly  waving 
through  a  shady  chamber  —  a  verse  of  the  Koran  emblazoned 
on  the  walls  —  the  sight  and  the  sound  of  falling  water  —  the 
cold,  fragrant  smoke  of  the  narguil^,  and  a  small  collection  of 
wives  and  children  in  the  inner  apartments  —  all  these,  the 
utmost  enjoyments  of  the  grandee,  are  yet  such  as  to  be 
appreciable  by  the  humblest  Mussulman  in  the  empire. 

But  its  gardens  are  the  delight  —  the  delight  and  the  pride 
of  Damascus ;  they  are  not  the  formal  parterres  which  you 
might  expect  from  the  Oriental  taste  ;  they  rather  bring  back 
to  your  mind  the  memory  of  some  dark  old  shrubbery  in  our 
northern  isle,  that  has  been  charmingly  "un-kept  up  "  for  many 
and  many  a  day.     When  you  see  a  rich  wilderness  of  wood  in 


2l6  KINGLAKE 

decent  England,  it  is  like  enough  that  you  see  it  with  some 
soft  regrets.  The  puzzled  old  woman  at  the  lodge  can  give 
small  account  of  "the  family."  She  thinks  it  is  "Italy" 
that  has  made  the  whole  circle  of  her  world  so  gloomy  and 
sad.  You  avoid  the  house  in  lively  dread  of  a  lone  house- 
keeper, but  you  make  your  way  on  by  the  stables ;  you  re- 
member that  gable  with  all  its  neatly-nailed  trophies  of  fitches, 
and  hawks,  and  owls,  now  slowly  falling  to  pieces  —  you 
remember  that  stable,  and  that  the  doors  are  all  fastened 
that  used  to  be  standing  ajar  —  the  paint  of  things  painted  is 
blistered  and  cracked —  grass  grows  in  the  yard  —  just  there, 
in  October  mornings,  the  keeper  would  wait  with  the  dogs  and 
the  guns  —  no  keeper  now  —  you  hurry  away,  and  gain  the 
small  wicket  that  used  to  open  to  the  touch  of  a  lightsome 
hand  —  it  is  fastened  with  a  padlock  (the  only  new-looking 
thing),  and  is  stained  with  thick,  green  damp  —  you  climb  it, 
and  bury  yourself  in  the  deep  shade,  and  strive  but  lazily  with 
the  tangling  briers,  and  stop  for  long  minutes  to  judge  and 
determine  whether  you  will  creep  beneath  the  long  boughs, 
and  make  them  your  archway,  or  whether  perhaps  you  will 
lift  your  heel,  and  tread  them  down  under  foot.  Long  doubt, 
and  scarcely  to  be  ended,  till  you  wake  from  the  memory  of 
those  days  when  the  path  was  clear,  and  chase  that  phantom 
of  a  muslin  sleeve  that  once  weighed  warm  upon  your  arm. 

Wild  as  that,  the  nighest  woodland  of  a  deserted  home  in 
England,  but  without  its  sweet  sadness,  is  the  sumptuous  gar- 
den of  Damascus.  Forest  trees,  tall  and  stately  enough  if 
you  could  see  their  lofty  crests,  yet  lead  a  tussling  life  of  it 
below,  with  their  branches  struggling  against  strong  numbers 
of  bushes  and  wilful  shrubs.  The  shade  upon  the  earth  is 
black  as  night.  High,  high  above  your  head  and  on  every 
side  all  down  to  the  ground,  the  thicket  is  hemmed  in  and 
choked  up  by  the  interlacing  boughs  that  droop  with  the 
weight  of  roses,  and  load  the  slow  air  with  their  damask 
breath.i  There  are  no  other  flowers.  Here  and  there,  there 
are  patches  of  ground  made  clear  from  the  cover,  and  these 
are  either  carelessly  planted  with  some  common  and  useful 
vegetable,  or  else  are  left  free  to  the  wayward  ways  of  Nature, 

1  The  rose-trees  which  I  saw  were  all  of  the  kind  we  call  "  damask  " ; 
they  grow  to  an  immense  height  and  size. 


EOTHEN  2 I 7 

and  bear  rank  weeds,  moist-looking  and  cool  to  your  eyes,  and 
freshening  the  sense  with  their  earthy  and  bitter  fragrance. 
There  is  a  lane  opened  through  the  thicket,  so  broad  in  some 
places  that  you  can  pass  along  side  by  side,  in  some  so  nar- 
row (the  shrubs  are  forever  encroaching)  that  you  ought,  if 
you  can,  to  go  on  the  first  and  hold  back  the  bough  of  the 
rose-tree.  And  through  this  wilderness  there  tumbles  a  loud 
rushing  stream,  which  is  halted  at  last  in  the  lowest  corner  of 
the  garden,  and  there  tossed  up  in  a  fountain  by  the  side  of 
the  simple  alcove.     This  is  all. 

Never  for  an  instant  will  the  people  of  Damascus  attempt 
to  separate  the  idea  of  bliss  from  these  wild  gardens  and 
rushing  waters.  Even  where  your  best  affections  are  con- 
cerned, and  you  (prudent  preachers)  "  hold  hard,"  and  turn 
aside  when  they  come  near  the  mysteries  of  the  happy 
state,  and  we  (prudent  preachers  too),  we  will  hush  our 
voices  and  never  reveal  to  finite  beings  the  joys  of  the 
"  Earthly  Paradise." 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

Pass  of  the  Lebanon 

"^T^HE  ruins  of  Baalbec !  "  Shall  I  scatter  the  vague, 
I  solemn  thoughts  and  all  the  airy  phantasies  which 
-■■  gather  together  when  once  those  words  are  spoken, 
that  I  may  give  you  instead  tall  columns,  and  measurements 
true,  and  phrases  built  with  ink  ?  —  No,  no ;  the  glorious 
sounds  shall  still  float  on  as  of  yore,  and  still  hold  fast  upon 
your  brain  with  their  own  dim  and  infinite  meaning. 

Come  !  Baalbec  is  over ;  I  got  "  rather  well  "  out  of  that. 

The  pass  by  which  I  crossed  the  Lebanon  is  like,  I  think, 
in  its  features  to  one  which  you  must  know,  namely,  that  of 
the  Foorca  in  the  Bernese  Oberland.  For  a  great  part  of 
the  way  I  toiled  rather  painfully  through  the  dazzling  snow, 
but  the  labor  of  ascending  added  to  the  excitement  with 
which  I  looked  for  the  summit  of  the  pass.  The  time  came. 
There  was  a  minute  in  the  which  I  saw  nothing  but  the  steep 
white  shoulder  of  the  mountain,  and  there  was  another  minute, 
and  that  the  next,  which  showed  me  a  nether  heaven  of 
fleecy  clouds  that  floated  along  far  down  in  the  air  beneath 
me,  and  showed  me  beyond  the  breadth  of  all  Syria  west  of 
the  Lebanon.  But  chiefly  I  clung  with  my  eyes  to  the  dim 
steadfast  line  of  the  sea  which  closed  my  utmost  view.  I  had 
grown  well  used  of  late  to  the  people  and  the  scenes  of  for- 
lorn Asia,  well  used  to  tombs  and  ruins,  to  silent  cities  and 
deserted  plains,  to  tranquil  men  and  women  sadly  veiled  ;  and 
now  that  I  saw  the  even  plain  of  the  sea,  I  leaped  with  an  easy 
leap  to  its  yonder  shores,  and  saw  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
West  in  that  fair  path  that  could  lead  me  from  out  of  this 
silent  land  straight  on  into  shrill  Marseilles,  or  round  by  the 
pillars  of  Hercules,  to  the  crash  and  roar  of  London.  My 
place  upon  this  dividing  barrier  was  as  a  man's  puzzling  sta- 
tion in  eternity,  betYv^een  the  birthless  Past  and  the  P^uture 

218 


EOTHEN 


219 


that  has  no  end.  Behind  me  I  left  an  old  decrepit  World,  — 
Religions  dead  and  dying,— calm  tyrannies  expiring  in  silence, 

—  women  hushed  and  swathed,  and  turned  into  waxen  dolls, 

—  Love  flown,  and  in  its  stead  mere  Royal  and  "  Paradise  " 
pleasures.  —  Before  me  there  waited  glad  bustle  and  strife, 

—  Love  itself,  an  emulous  game,  —  Religion  a  Cause  and  a 
Controversy,  well  smitten  and  well  defended,  —  men  gov- 
erned by  reasons  and  suasion  of  speech,  —  wheels  going,  — 
steam  buzzing,  —  a  mortal  race  and  a  slashing  pace,  and  the 
Devil  taking  the  hindmost,  —  taking  me,  by  Jove  (for  that 
was  my  inner  care),  if  I  lingered  too  long  upon  the  difficult 
Pass  that  leads  from  Thought  to  Action. 

I  descended,  and  went  towards  the  West. 

The  group  of  Cedars  remaining  on  this  part  of  the  Lebanon 
is  held  sacred  by  the  Greek  Church,  on  account  of  a  prevail- 
ing notion  that  the  trees  were  standing  at  the  time  when  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem  was  built.  They  occupy  three  or  four 
acres  on  the  mountain's  side,  and  many  of  them  are  gnarled 
in  a  way  that  implies  great  age,  but  except  these  signs  I  saw 
nothing  in  their  appearance  or  conduct  that  tended  to  prove 
them  contemporaries  of  the  cedars  employed  in  Solomon's 
Temple.  The  final  cause  to  which  these  aged  survivors 
owed  their  preservation  was  explained  to  me  in  the  evening 
by  a  glorious  old  fellow,  a  Christian  Chief,  who  made  me 
welcome  in  the  valley  of  Eden.  In  ancient  times,  the  whole 
range  of  the  Lebanon  had  been  covered  with  cedars,  but  as 
the  fertile  plains  beneath  became  more  and  more  infested 
with  Government  officers  and  tyrants  of  high  and  low  degree, 
the  people  by  degrees  abandoned  them,  and  flocked  to  the 
rugged  mountains,  which  were  less  accessible  to  their  inso- 
lent oppressors.  The  cedar  forests  gradually  shrank  under 
the  ax  of  the  encroaching  multitudes,  and  seemed  at  last  to 
be  on  the  point  of  disappearing  entirely,  when  an  aged  Chief 
who  ruled  in  this  district,  and  who  had  witnessed  the  great 
change  effected  even  in  his  own  lifetime,  chose  to  say  that 
some  sign  or  memorial  should  be  left  of  the  vast  woods  with 
which  the  mountains  had  formerly  been  clad,  and  commanded 
accordingly  that  this  group  of  trees  (which  was  probably 
situate  at  the  highest  point  to  which  the  forest  had  reached) 
should   remain  untouched.     The   Chief,    it  seems,  was   not 


220  KINGLAKE 

moved  by  the  notion  I  have  mentioned  as  prevailing  in  the 
Greek  Church,  but  rather  by  some  sentiment  of  veneration 
for  a  great  natural  feature,  —  a  sentiment  akin,  perhaps,  to 
that  old  and  earthborn  Religion,  which  made  men  bow  down 
to  Creation  before  they  had  yet  learned  how  to  know  and  wor- 
ship the  Creator. 

The  Chief  of  the  valley  in  which  I  passed  the  night  was  a 
man  of  large  possessions,  and  he  entertained  me  very  sumptu- 
ously ;  he  was  highly  intelligent,  and  had  had  the  sagacity  to 
foresee  that  Europe  would  intervene  authoritatively  in  the  af- 
fairs of  Syria.  Bearing  this  idea  in  mind,  and  with  a  view  to 
give  his  son  an  advantageous  start  in  the  ambitious  career  for 
which  he  was  destined,  he  had  hired  for  him  a  teacher  of  the 
Italian  language,  the  only  accessible  European  tongue.  The 
tutor,  however,  who  was  a  native  of  Syria,  either  did  not  know, 
or  did  not  choose  to  teach,  the  European  forms  of  address,  but 
contented  himself  with  instructing  his  pupil  in  the  mere  lan- 
guage of  Italy.  This  circumstance  gave  me  an  opportunity 
(the  only  one  I  ever  had,  or  was  likely  to  have)^  of  hearing 
the  phrases  of  Oriental  courtesy  in  a  European  tongue.  The 
boy  was  about  twelve  or  thirteen  years  old,  and  having  the 
advantage  of  being  able  to  speak  to  me  without  the  aid  of  an 
interpreter,  he  took  a  very  prominent  part  in  doing  the  honors 
of  his  father's  house.  He  went  through  his  duties  with  un- 
tiring assiduity,  and  with  a  kind  of  gracefulness  which  can 
scarcely  be  conveyed  by  mere  description  to  those  who  are 
unacquainted  with  the  manners  of  the  Asiatics.  The  boy's 
address  resembled  a  little  that  of  a  highly  polished  and 
insinuating  Roman  Catholic  Priest,  but  had  more  of  girlish 
gentleness.  It  was  strange  to  hear  him  gravely  and  slowly 
enunciating  the  common  and  extravagant  compliments  of  the 
East  in  good  Italian,  and  in  soft,  persuasive  tones.  I  recollect 
that  I  was  particularly  amused  at  the  gracious  obstinacy  with 
which  he  maintained  that  the  house  in  which  I  was  so  hospi- 
tably entertained  belonged  not  to  his  father,  but  to  me ;  to 
say  this  once  was  only  to  use  the  common  form  of  speech, 
signifying  no  more  than  our  sweet  word  "  welcome,"  but  the 
amusing  part  of  the  matter  was  that,  whenever  in  the  course 

^  A  Dragoman  never  interprets  in  terms  the  courteous  language  of  the 
East. 


EOTHEN  221 

of  conversation  I  happened  to  speak  of  his  father's  house  or 
the  surrounding  domain,  the  boy  invariably  interfered  to  cor- 
rect my  pretended  mistake,  and  to  assure  me  once  again  with 
a  gentle  decisiveness  of  manner  that  the  whole  property  was 
really  and  exclusively  mine,  and  that  his  father  had  not  the 
most  distant  pretensions  to  its  ownership. 

I  received  from  my  host  much  and  (as  I  now  know)  most 
true  information  respecting  the  people  of  the  mountains,  and 
their  power  of  resisting  Mehemet  Ali.  The  Chief  gave  me 
very  plainly  to  understand  that  the  mountaineers,  being  de- 
pendent upon  others  for  bread  and  gunpowder  (the  two  great 
necessaries  of  martial  life),  could  not  long  hold  out  against  a 
power  which  occupied  the  plains  and  commanded  the  sea, 
but  he  also  assured  me,  and  that  very  significantly,  that  if 
this  source  of  weakness  were  provided  against,  the  mountain- 
eers were  to  be  depended  upon;  he  told  me  that  in  ten  or  fif- 
teen days  the  Chiefs  could  bring  together  some  fifty  thousand 
fighting  men. 


CHAPTER   XXIX 
Surprise   of  Satalieh 

WHILST  I  was  remaining  upon  the  coast  of  Syria,  I 
had  the  good  fortune  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
Russian  Sataliefsky,^  a  General  Officer,  who,  in  his 
youth,  had  fought  and  bled  at  Borodino,  but  was  now  better 
known  among  Diplomats  by  the  important  trust  committed 
to  him  at  a  period  highly  critical  for  the  affairs  of  Eastern 
Europe.  I  must  not  tell  you  his  family  name;  my  mention 
of  his  title  can  do  him  no  harm,  for  it  is  I,  and  I  only,  who 
have  conferred  it  in  consideration  of  the  military  and  diplo- 
matic services  performed  under  my  own  eyes. 

The  General  as  well  as  I  was  bound  for  Smyrna,  and  we 
agreed  to  sail  together  in  an  Ionian  Brigantine.  We  did  not 
charter  the  vessel,  but  we  made  our  arrangement  with  the 
Captain  upon  such  terms  that  we  could  be  put  ashore  upon 
any  part  of  the  coast  which  we  might  think  proper.  We 
sailed,  and  day  after  day  the  vessel  lay  dawdling  on  the  sea 
with  calms  and  feeble  breezes  for  her  portion.  I  myself  was 
well  repaid  for  the  painful  restlessness  which  such  weather 
occasions,  because  I  gained  from  my  companion  a  little  of 
that  vast  fund  of  interesting  knowledge  with  which  he  was 
stored,  —  knowledge,  a  thousand  times  the  more  highly  to  be 
prized,  since  it  was  not  of  the  sort  that  is  to  be  gathered  from 
books,  but  only  from  the  lips  of  those  who  have  acted  a  part 
in  the  world. 

When  after  nine  days  of  sailing,  or  trying  to  sail,  we  found 
ourselves  still  hanging  by  the  mainland  to  the  north  of  the 
Isle  of  Cyprus,  we  determined  to  disembark  at  Satalieh  and 
to  proceed  from  thence  by  land.  A  light  breeze  favored  our 
purpose,  and  it  was  with  great  delight  that  we  neared  the 

'  A  title  signifying  Transcender  or  Conqueror  of  Satalieh. 

222 


EOTHEN  223 

fragrant  land,  and  saw  our  anchor  go  down  in  the  bay  of 
Satalieh,  within  two  or  three  hundred  yards  of  the  shore. 

The  town  of  Satalieh  ^  is  the  chief  place  of  the  Pashalik  in 
which  it  is  situate,  and  its  citadel  is  the  residence  of  the 
Pasha.  We  had  scarcely  dropped  our  anchor  when  a  boat 
from  the  shore  came  alongside,  with  officers  on  board,  who 
announced  that  the  strictest  orders  had  been  received  for 
maintaining  a  quarantine  of  three  weeks  against  all  vessels 
coming  from  Syria,  and  directed  accordingly  that  no  one  from 
the  vessel  should  disembark.  In  reply  we  sent  a  message  to 
the  Pasha,  setting  forth  the  rank  and  titles  of  the  General,  and 
requiring  permission  to  go  ashore.  After  a  while  the  boat 
came  again  alongside,  and  the  officers  declaring  that  the 
orders  received  from  Constantinople  were  imperative  and 
unexceptional,  formally  enjoined  us  in  the  name  of  the 
Pasha  to  abstain  from  any  attempt  to  land. 

I  had  been  hitherto  much  less  impatient  of  our  slow  voy- 
age than  my  gallant  friend,  but  this  opposition  made  the 
smooth  sea  seem  to  me  like  a  prison  from  which  I  must  and 
would  break  out.  I  had  an  unbounded  faith  in  the  feeble- 
ness of  Asiatic  Potentates,  and  I  proposed  that  we  should  set 
the  Pasha  at  defiance.  The  General  had  been  worked  up  to 
a  state  of  the  most  painful  agitation  by  the  idea  of  being 
driven  from  the  shore  which  smiled  so  pleasantly  before  his 
eyes,  and  he  adopted  my  suggestion  with  rapture. 

We  determined  to  land. 

To  approach  the  sweet  shore  after  a  tedious  voyage,  and 
there  to  be  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  prohibited  from  land- 
ing,—  this  is  so  maddening  to  the  temper  that  no  one  who 
had  ever  experienced  the  trial  would  say  that  even  the  most 
violent  impatience  of  such  restraint  is  wholly  inexcusable.  I 
am  not  going  to  pretend,  however,  that  the  course  which  we 
chose  to  adopt  on  this  occasion  can  be  perfectly  justified. 
The  impropriety  of  a  traveler's  setting  at  naught  the  regula- 
tions of  a  foreign  state  is  clear  enough,  and  the  bad  taste  of 
compassing  such  a  purpose  by  mere  gasconading  is  still 
more  glaringly  plain.  I  knew  perfectly  well  that  if  the 
Pasha  understood  his  duty,  and  had  energy  enough  to  per- 

1  Spelled  "  Attalia  "  and  sometimes  "  Adalia  "  in  English  books  and 
maps. 


224  KLNGLAKE 

form  it,  he  would  order  out  a  file  of  soldiers  the  moment  we 
landed,  and  cause  us  both  to  be  shot  upon  the  beach,  without 
allowing  more  contact  than  might  be  absolutely  necessary  for 
the  purpose  of  making  us  stand  fire ;  but  I  also  firmly  believed 
that  the  Pasha  would  not  see  the  line  of  conduct  which  he 
ought  to  adopt  nearly  so  well  as  I  did,  and  that  even  if  he 
did  know  his  duty  he  would  never  be  able  to  find  resolution 
enough  to  perform  it. 

We  ordered  the  boat  to  be  got  in  readiness,  and  the  ofificers 
on  shore,  seeing  these  preparations,  gathered  together  a  num- 
ber of  guards,  who  assembled  upon  the  sands ;  we  saw  that 
great  excitement  prevailed,  and  that  messengers  were  con- 
tinually going  to  and  fro  between  the  shore  and  the  citadel. 
Our  Captain,  out  of  compliment  to  his  Excellency,  had  pro- 
vided the  vessel  with  a  Russian  war  flag,  which  he  had 
hoisted  alternately  with  the  Union  Jack,  and  we  agreed 
that  we  would  attempt  our  disembarkation  under  this,  the 
Russian  standard  ;  I  was  glad  when  we  came  to  that  resolu- 
tion, for  I  should  have  been  very  sorry  to  engage  the  honored 
flag  of  England  in  such  an  affair  as  that  which  we  were 
undertaking.  The  Russian  ensign  was  therefore  committed 
to  one  of  the  sailors,  who  took  his  station  at  the  stern  of  the 
boat.  We  gave  particular  instructions  to  the  Captain  of  the 
Brigantine,  and  when  all  was  ready,  the  General  and  I  with 
our  respective  servants  got  into  the  boat,  and  were  slowly 
rowed  towards  the  shore.  The  guards  gathered  together  at 
the  point  for  which  we  were  making,  but  when  they  saw  that 
our  boat  went  on  without  altering  her  course,  they  ceased 
to  stand  very  still ;  none  of  them  ran  away  or  even  shrank 
back,  but  they  looked  as  if  the  pack  were  being  shuflfled, 
every  man  seeming  desirous  to  change  places  with  his  neigh- 
bor. They  were  still  at  their  post,  however,  when  our  oars 
went  in,  and  the  bow  of  our  boat  ran  up,  — well  up  upon  the 
beach. 

The  General  was  lame  by  an  honorable  wound  which  he 
had  gained  at  Borodino,  and  required  some  assistance  in  get- 
ting out  of  the  boat ;  I,  therefore,  landed  the  first.  My 
instructions  to  the  Captain  were  attended  to  with  the  most 
perfect  accuracy,  for  scarcely  had  my  foot  indented  the  sand, 
when  the  four  six-pounders  of  the  Brigantine  sublimely  rolled 


EOTHEN  235 

out  their  brute  thunder.  Precisely  as  I  had  expected,  the 
guards,  and  all  the  people  who  had  gathered  about  them, 
gave  way  under  the  shock  produced  by  the  mere  sound  of 
guns,  and  we  were  all  allowed  to  disembark  without  the  least 
molestation. 

We  immediately  formed  a  little  column,  or  rather,  as  I 
should  have  called  it,  a  procession,  for  we  had  no  fighting 
aptitude  in  us,  and  were  only  trying,  as  it  were,  how  far  we 
could  go  in  frightening  full-grown  children.  First  marched 
the  sailor  with  the  Russian  flag  of  war  bravely  flying  in  the 
breeze  ;  then  came  the  General  and  I ;  then  our  servants,  and 
lastly,  if  I  rightly  recollect,  two  more  of  the  Brigantine's  crew. 
Our  flag-bearer  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  enterprise,  and 
bore  the  standard  aloft  with  so  much  of  pomp  and  dignity, 
that  I  found  it  exceedingly  hard  to  keep  a  grave  countenance. 
We  advanced  towards  the  castle,  but  the  people  had  now  had 
time  to  recover  from  the  effect  of  the  six-pounders  (which  were 
only,  of  course,  loaded  with  powder),  and  they  could  not  help 
seeing,  not  only  the  weakness  of  our  party,  but  the  very  slight 
amount  of  pomp  and  power  which  it  seemed  to  imply ;  they 
began  to  hang  around  us  more  closely,  and  just  as  this  reaction 
was  beginning,  the  General,  who  was  perfectly  unacquainted 
with  the  Asiatic  character,  thoughtlessly  turned  round  in  or- 
der to  speak  to  one  of  the  servants  ;  the  effect  of  this  slight 
move  was  magical ;  the  people  thought  we  were  going  to  give 
way,  and  instantly  closed  round  us.  In  two  words,  and  with 
one  touch,  I  showed  my  comrade  the  danger  he  was  running, 
and  in  the  next  instant  we  were  both  advancing  more  pom- 
pously than  ever.  Some  minutes  afterwards  there  was  a 
second  appearance  of  reaction,  followed  again  by  wavering 
and  indecision  on  the  part  of  the  Pasha's  people,  but  at  length 
it  seemed  to  be  understood  that  we  should  go  unmolested  into 
the  audience  hall. 

Constant  communication  had  been  going  on  between  the 
receding  crowd  and  the  Pasha,  and  so  when  we  reached  the 
gates  of  the  citadel  we  saw  that  preparations  were  made  for 
giving  us  an  awe-striking  reception.  Parting  at  once  from 
the  sailors  and  our  servants,  the  General  and  I  were  conducted 
into  the  audience  hall ;  and  there  at  least  I  suppose  the  Pasha 
hoped  that  he  would  confound  us  by  his  greatness.  The  hall 
30 


226  KINGLAKE 

was  nothing  more  than  a  large  whi^tewashed  room.  Oriental 
potentates  have  a  pride  in  that  sort  of  simplicity  when  they  can 
contrast  it  with  the  exhibition  of  power,  and  this  the  Pasha 
was  able  to  do,  for  the  lower  end  of  the  hall  was  filled  with 
his  officers ;  these  men,  of  whom  I  thought  there  were  about 
fifty  or  sixty,  were  all  handsomely  though  plainly  dressed  in 
the  military  frock-coats  of  Europe ;  they  stood  in  mass  and 
so  as  to  present  a  hollow,  semicircular  front  towards  the  upper 
end  of  the  hall  at  which  the  Pasha  sat ;  they  opened  a  narrow 
lane  for  us  when  we  entered,  and  as  soon  as  we  had  passed 
they  again  closed  up  their  ranks.  An  attempt  was  made  to  in- 
duce us  to  remain  at  a  respectful  distance  from  his  Mightiness ; 
to  have  yielded  to  this  point  would  have  been  fatal  to  our  suc- 
cess, —  perhaps  to  our  lives ;  but  the  General  and  I  had  already 
determined  upon  the  place  which  we  should  take,  and  we 
rudely  pushed  on  towards  the  upper  end  of  the  hall. 

Upon  the  divan  and  close  up  against  the  right-hand  corner 
of  the  room  there  sat  the  Pasha  —  his  limbs  gathered  in  —  the 
whole  creature  coiled  up  like  an  adder.  His  cheeks  were 
deadly  pale,  and  his  lips  perhaps  had  turned  white,  for  with- 
out moving  a  muscle  the  man  impressed  me  with  an  immense 
idea  of  wrath  within  him.  He  kept  his  eyes  inexorably  fixed, 
as  if  upon  vacancy,  and  with  the  look  of  a  man  accustomed  to 
refuse  the  prayers  of  those  who  sue  for  life.  We  soon  discom- 
posed him,  however,  from  this  studied  fixity  of  feature,  for  we 
marched  straight  up  to  the  divan  and  sat  down,  the  Russian 
close  to  the  Pasha,  and  I  by  the  side  of  the  Russian.  This  act 
astonished  the  attendants  and  plainly  disconcerted  the  Pasha ; 
he  could  no  longer  maintain  the  glassy  stillness  of  the  eyes 
which  he  had  affected,  and  evidently  became  much  agitated. 
At  the  feet  of  the  Satrap  there  stood  a  trembling  Italian  ; 
this  man  was  a  sort  of  medico  in  the  Potentate's  service,  and 
now,  in  the  absence  of  our  attendants,  he  was  to  act  as  inter- 
preter. The  Pasha  caused  him  to  tell  us  that  we  had  openly 
defied  his  authority,  and  had  forced  our  way  upon  shore  in  the 
teeth  of  his  own  officers. 

Up  to  this  time  I  had  been  the  planner  of  the  enterprise,  but 
now  that  the  moment  had  come  when  all  would  depend  upon 
able  and  earnest  speechifying,  I  felt  at  once  the  immense 
superiority  of  my  gallant  friend,  and  gladly  left  to  him  the 


EOTHEN  227 

whole  conduct  of  the  discussion ;  indeed,  he  had  vast  advan- 
tages over  me,  not  only  by  his  superior  command  of  language, 
and  his  far  more  spirited  style  of  address,  but  also  in  his  con- 
sciousness of  a  good  cause,  for  virhilst  I  felt  myself  com- 
pletely in  the  wrong,  his  Excellency  had  really  worked 
himself  up  to  believe  that  the  Pasha's  refusal  to  permit  our 
landing  was  a  gross  outrage  and  insult.  Therefore,  without 
deigning  to  defend  our  conduct,  he  at  once  commenced  a 
spirited  attack  upon  the  Pasha.  The  poor  Italian  Doctor 
translated  one  or  two  sentences  to  the  Pasha,  but  he  evidently 
mitigated  their  import ;  the  Russian  growing  warm,  insisted 
upon  his  attack  with  redoubled  energy  and  spirit;  but  the 
medico,  instead  of  translating,  began  to  shake  violently  with 
terror,  and  at  last  he  came  out  with  his  "  non  ardisco,"  and 
fairly  confessed  that  he  dared  not  interpret  fierce  words  to 
his  master. 

Now  then,  at  a  time  when  everything  seemed  to  depend 
upon  the  effect  of  speech,  we  were  left  without  an  interpreter. 

But  this  very  circumstance,  which  at  first  appeared  so  un- 
favorable, turned  out  to  be  advantageous.  The  General,  find- 
ing that  he  could  not  have  his  words  translated,  ceased  to 
speak  in  Italian,  and  recurred  to  his  accustomed  French ;  he 
became  eloquent ;  no  one  present,  except  myself,  understood 
one  syllable  of  what  he  was  saying,  but  he  had  drawn  forth 
his  passport,  and  the  energy  and  violence  with  which,  as  he 
spoke,  he  pointed  to  the  graven  Eagle  of  Russia,  began  to 
make  an  impression ;  the  Pasha  saw  at  his  side  a  man,  who  not 
only  seemed  to  be  entirely  without  fear,  but  to  be  raging  with 
just  indignation,  and  thenceforward  he  plainly  began  to  think 
that  in  some  way  or  other  (he  could  not  tell  how)  he  must 
certainly  have  been  in  the  wrong.  In  a  little  time  he  was 
so  much  shaken,  that  the  Italian  ventured  to  resume  his  in- 
terpretation, and  my  comrade  had  again  the  opportunity  of 
pressing  his  attack  upon  the  Pasha  ;  his  argument,  if  I  rightly 
recollect  its  import,  was  to  this  effect :  "  If  the  vilest  Jews 
were  to  come  into  the  harbor,  you  would  but  forbid  them  to 
land,  and  force  them  to  perform  quarantine,  yet  this  is  the 
very  course,  O  Pasha,  which  your  rash  officers  dared  to  think 
of  adopting  with  us!  Those  mad  and  reckless  men  would 
have  actually  dealt  towards  a  Russian  General  Officer  and  an 


228  KINGLAKE 

English  Gentleman  as  if  they  had  been  wretched  Israelites ! 
Never,  never  will  we  submit  to  such  an  indignity.  His  Im- 
perial Majesty  knows  how  to  protect  his  nobles  from  insult, 
and  would  never  endure  that  a  General  of  his  army  should  be 
treated  in  matter  of  quarantine  as  though  he  were  a  mere 
Eastern  Jew!"  This  argument  told  with  great  effect;  the 
Pasha  fairly  admitted  that  he  felt  its  weight,  and  he  now  only 
struggled  to  obtain  a  compromise  which  might  seem  to  save 
his  dignity ;  he  wanted  us  to  perform  a  quarantine  of  one  day 
for  form's  sake,  and  in  order  to  show  his  people  that  he  was 
not  utterly  defied,  but  finding  that  we  were  inexorable,  he  not 
only  abandoned  his  attempt,  but  promised  to  supply  us  with 
horses. 

When  the  discussion  had  arrived  at  this  happy  conclusion, 
tchibouques  and  coffee  were  brought,  and  we  passed,  I  think, 
nearly  an  hour  in  friendly  conversation.  The  Pasha,  it  now 
appeared,  had  once  been  a  prisoner  of  war  in  Russia,  and  the 
conviction  of  the  Emperor's  power  which  he  must  have  ac- 
quired during  his  captivity  probably  rendered  him  more  alive 
than  an  untraveled  Turk  would  have  been  to  the  force  of  my 
comrade's  eloquence. 

The  Pasha  now  gave  us  a  generous  feast;  our  promised 
horses  were  brought  without  much  delay ;  I  gained  my  loved 
saddle  once  more,  and  when  the  moon  got  up  and  touched  the 
heights  of  Taurus,  we  were  joyfully  winding  our  way  through 
one  of  his  rugged  defiles. 


THE   END 


•*"•*">«  library 


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UCLA-Young   Research    Library 

G370   .M31    1901 


L   009   561    363   4 


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